New leadership for technology management, corporate relations

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Photo: Dushyant Pathak
Pathak

Dushyant Pathak, an industry professional with expertise leading, managing and working with early stage biotech and life science companies, has been appointed associate vice chancellor for technology management and corporate relations at UC Davis.

He will oversee both InnovationAccess, the campus unit that manages patents, licenses and other intellectual property issues; and the Office of Corporate Relations, which aims to build strategic partnerships between researchers and industry.

Pathak, whose appointment came after a national search, is scheduled to take up his new post on Tuesday (Jan. 17).

“With this appointment, the Office of Research has taken one more step toward advancing UC Davis as a center for innovation with both local and global impact,” said Harris Lewin, vice chancellor for research.

“I’m delighted to welcome someone with Dushyant’s experience and demonstrated ability to our team. With his leadership and our talented and dedicated staff, we can look forward to a campus more engaged than ever in industry partnerships, new ventures and entrepreneurial initiatives designed to translate our cutting-edge research and technology into meaningful ways of improving the quality of life for people and animals worldwide.”

Pathak has 15 years of leadership and management experience with such life sciences companies as Chiron, Arris, BioProtocol, Renovis, Cellexicon and iPierian. He has led entrepreneurial teams from the business plan stage through start up, early development and beyond.

"I'm excited to be joining UC Davis with its extraordinary breadth and depth of research activities,” Pathak said. “It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to help drive entrepreneurial ventures stemming from campus research and to strengthen the connections between the talented academic community at UC Davis and the external business and industry community responsible for translating their discoveries into our everyday lives."

At Renovis, where he was vice president of corporate development, Pathak led the company's business development and intellectual property teams and commercial planning and clinical project operations. He was also part of the executive team responsible for taking the South San Francisco biopharmaceutical company public.

As vice president of business development for iPierian Inc., a stem cell start-up also based in South San Francisco, Pathak had oversight of all external business/scientific interactions and negotiations with potential strategic partners including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; universities; foundations and research institutes; technology and product licensing; and partnerships with academic advisers and consultants.

Prior to starting at UC Davis, Pathak provided consulting services through VentureEdge LLC to early-stage companies and investors in the areas of strategic business transactions and operations.

Pathak also has worked in venture capital with Connecticut Innovations, based in Rocky Hill, Conn., and as the first entrepreneur in residence at QB3/Mission Bay Capital, an independent venture firm based at UCSF that focuses on making pivotal, early-stage investments in bioscience companies emerging from the University of California. He is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco's School of Management.

Pathak holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology from Northwestern University, and an M.B.A. from the Walter Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He was a postdoctoral fellow and research faculty member at Yale University.

UC Davis InnovationAccess provides services that connect research to the marketplace and are focused specifically on protecting and commercializing intellectual property and fostering entrepreneurship within the campus community. The team comprises more than 15 professionals with scientific, legal and management backgrounds and significant private sector experience. Since 2005, InnovationAccess has produced 584 agreements with companies related to licensing of UC Davis intellectual property, and generated more than $59 million in licensing income. Since 2005, the office has also helped 28 startups get off the ground.

The UC Davis Office of Corporate Relations serves as the front door to university resources for corporations and businesses. By working closely with faculty, staff and campus leadership, the office helps build comprehensive and strategic partnerships with industry through research collaborations, facilitating interactions with talented students and postdoctoral scholars, and developing university technologies.

Media Resources

Andy Fell, Research news (emphasis: biological and physical sciences, and engineering), 530-752-4533, ahfell@ucdavis.edu

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