UW Bioengineering faculty Charles Murry (joint professor of pathology, bioengineering and medicine/cardiology) and Michael Regnier, as well as adjunct faculty Michael Jensen, MD, director of the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and professor of pediatric hematology-oncology at UW Medicine and Satoshi Minoshima, professor of radiology, were named 2014 UW Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows.
University of Washington President Michael Young has announced the appointment of ten new members to the university’s prestigious Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows (EFF) program. This year’s appointees join eight continuing fellows previously selected for success in initiating groundbreaking programs to translate research into products and therapies, in collaborating with industry, and in sharing their knowledge with other UW researchers.
Throughout their two-year terms, the ten new fellows will serve as mentors to other UW faculty, researchers and staff with entrepreneurial aspirations, and also share their experiences at campus entrepreneurial events. At the end of the term, fellows are encouraged to continue participation in the program and to serve as program and activity advisors to the UW Center for Commercialization (C4C).
The other 2014 UW Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows are: Per Reinhall, professor and chair of mechanical engineering; Ed Clark, professor of microbiology and immunology; Shwetak Patel, associate professor of computer science and engineering and electrical engineering; Corey Fagan, clinic director, psychology; Jake Wobbrock, associate professor, Information School; and Andy Ko, assistant professor, Information School.
“These ten professors have encouraged the commercial sector to take notice of UW, to consider us first when seeking collaborators and cutting edge technology to form the basis of new patient treatments, products, and services,” said Young. “Our Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows are a critical component of the ecosystem taking hold.”
Dr. Regnier, who is also adjunct faculty of physiology and biophysics at UW, is scientific co-founder and scientific advisory board member of Beat Biotherapeutics Corp., a startup that aims to develop a biological therapy for heart failure. Dr. Murry, also co-director of UW’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, investigates applications of stem cell therapy for cardiovascular disease. His current research aims to transform human stem cells to heart muscle cells to repair damaged hearts; promising results of a study of the technique in non-human primates was published in the April 30 issue of Nature.
Learn more about the UW Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows program
Coverage of the 2014 UW Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows on Geekwire
Media Contact (at UW Center for Commercialization C4C): Clare LaFond, Office: 206-616-9540 / Cell: 206-953-8532 / clarela@uw.edu