Biopharma Industry Leader Steven Kuemmerle to Help Spur University Technology Commercialization and Industry Collaborations
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Steven Kuemmerle, PhD, has been named special advisor on innovation and industry partnerships in the Office of Research. The announcement was made March 1 by Executive Vice President for Research Ronald Kaplan, PhD.
In this new role, Dr. Kuemmerle will report directly to Dr. Kaplan, focusing on accelerating the development of new company formation based on the university's technologies and discoveries, and on the development of national and international collaborations with the bioscience industry. Dr. Kuemmerle will work closely with Michael Rosen, university consultant, on the development of the new Innovation and Research Park, and Tom Denison, president and founder of the SmartHealth Activator, which helps Midwest universities nurture and grow newly formed biotech startups. He will also support RFU's Office of Technology Transfer and Sponsored Research, headed by Dora Espinosa, MBA, associate vice president.
Dr. Kuemmerle joins RFU from the University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation where he was senior director for industry relations. He joined UC in 2013 in a leadership role to manage technology licensing and commercialization. His deep experience in technology development and commercialization stems from 25 years at Abbott Laboratories, where he held positions of leadership in diagnostics research and development, pharma licensing and business development and in his last role there, as head of venture investments at Abbott Biotech Ventures.
Dr. Kuemmerle received his doctoral degree in biochemistry from Northwestern University and is involved in numerous life science activities and organizations in the Chicago bioscience community such as the Licensing Executives Society, Chicago Innovation Mentors, and the Midwest Research University Network.
"We are looking to Steve's outstanding scientific and business leadership to help us get to the next level in technology commercialization and industry collaborations, as well as start-up company formation," Kaplan said. "His expertise will be invaluable as we move toward building our new Innovation and Research Park at Rosalind Franklin University in Lake County, the heart of Illinois' life science industry."