How did you become managing director of the office?

When I was finishing my PhD I knew that bench work wasn’t where my talents lie, so I was trying to figure out what I could do that fit my personality, skillset and strengths better.

I didn’t know that I was on the path to becoming director of a tech transfer office but that’s what happened. I found tech transfer during graduate school, working ten hours a week at the tech transfer office at the University of Massachusetts Medical School while pursuing my doctorate. My first position was at Boston Children’s Hospital after graduation, but when my husband finished his PhD 18 months later, we moved to St. Louis and I took a position in the tech transfer office at Washington University in St. Louis.

Having worked in the Boston ecosystem, it was interesting to head to a “growing” ecosystem and I eagerly tried to piece all the startup support groups together. I stayed at the tech transfer office for a few years before moving over to a business development role at a major St. Louis company. Unfortunately, the role wasn’t right for me and I had just had my first child. I knew that if I was going to be a working mother, I had to love my job, so I came back to Washington University and expanded my role in the office doing licensing work as well as leading the education efforts for faculty.

During this time, I helped the office to increase invention disclosures by 50%. I suppose this put me in a good position to become director because, in 2015, I was asked to lead the tech transfer office as the interim director while the university launched a national search. I was newly pregnant with my fourth child and had to turn the office around, so it was good that I had pregnancy insomnia and slept very little!

Eight days after my son was born, I had my first interview for the full director role and about a month later had a full day interview. It was difficult to leave my newborn, but it was important for my career and it seems to have worked out!

Outline a typical day in your role.

My job is thinking about tech transfer for the whole university and how that strategy looks over multiple years. There is no typical day—I’m thinking about stakeholders in the university, and different deans at different schools and trying to give them the tools they need to ensure they’re more successful.

"We’ve reached gender parity on invention disclosures, with 50% female representation, and we are getting closer to parity on the patents we file."

I’m also thinking about my team in terms of how they can develop professionally. I must also consider the experiences we need and how my team fits into where the office needs to go. What are the goals the office needs to achieve and how do we track against them? Motivating my team to be aligned with these goals is essential.

Finally, I have to consider how we can get people excited about tech transfer and help them understand where the gaps are in terms of technology and expertise, as well as garner attention from external entities that might be partners for the university’s IP. Engaging those in our local ecosystem takes a lot of relationship cultivation and it’s important that they know how they can help our faculty inventors.

What’s the best part about your job?

For me, having to focus on the minutiae is not a good fit. My husband thrives on that and loves understanding complicated problems, but for me, it’s all about telling a story and getting people excited.

The best part of my job is that I get to work with amazing people who do the hard work and I get to tell a good story about science and how different inventions have made such a difference. I get to talk about the products we have on the market and what’s in the pipeline.

These stories make people proud to work where they do or make alumni proud of their institution. Most people don’t know the technology that has arisen from the university, so we have to tell them!

What’s the most difficult part of your job?

I’m a very fast-paced person. For me, the hardest part is to make sure that I recap everything to my team. Everyone on my team is different, the deans all have different personalities, so I have to take some time to slow myself down and make sure we can achieve.

I always want to start immediately, but I have to make sure everyone is aligned. Taking a long time to plan things out is the antithesis of my personality because my brain creates a map to places very quickly. Yet, getting buy-in from those you work with is of critical importance and remembering that keeps me in check.

Have you faced any barriers or challenges in your career?

When I moved to St Louis, I did face some barriers. I was the only woman on the licensing team in the tech transfer office and was the most recent woman with a PhD in the office. A lot of the women were support staff, who had very important jobs but weren’t recognised for it.

I wasn’t invited to the “boys’ lunch”, and I heard some other silly statements. I had to go into my boss and say “you can fix it, or I can fix it. We can’t all be productive if I’m constantly seen as ‘the woman’ on the team”. The boss was great and took care of it.

Other challenges I’ve faced (which aren’t unique to women) stem from being a working parent. Juggling things at home and a big job can be tough, but I love that my children are excited about my job. It’s tough figuring out how to perform to my own high expectations and I’m still trying to figure it all out.

What’s your biggest achievement?

Turning a corner at Washington University on how people think about innovation. I spent my first couple of years as director simply turning the office around, putting protocols in place and making sure people trusted us with the inventions. Then, we implemented some exciting things, such as celebrating inventorship and startups. We’ve added startup logos to our wall—it makes the faculty members so proud when everyone is there to celebrate the unveiling.

Together, we’ve totally transformed the culture of innovation in the last three years. We’ve more than doubled our invention disclosures and university startups. When I started 15 years ago, I didn’t think that would be possible given the culture of the time.

What advice would you give to those looking to focus on tech transfer?

If they’re in graduate school, seek out the tech transfer office and have a conversation, see if there’s any work you can do to get your foot in the door. When I was finishing my doctorate, having tech transfer experience wasn’t essential, but it is now.

You should also think about the different options. When people think of tech transfer offices, they often think of the licensing team, but there might be other roles and opportunities that will be a good fit.

Who or what inspires you?

A lot of awesome people in tech transfer! Lesley Millar-Nicholson, who heads up the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is very methodical and strategic. It’s great that she has come from a strong Midwest organisation to a top tech transfer office in the East coast of the US.

Most of all, the generosity of people in this field inspires me. I love working here—I’ve met so many directors, licensing team members and support staff who are always willing to contribute their knowledge.

What was your most unusual job before becoming managing director of the OTM?

I’ve been in tech transfer since I finished grad school but I used to be a waitress. I’m pretty sure I can still do it.

Women in tech transfer

What are the major issues facing women in tech transfer?

There’s a lot less data around the general makeup of tech transfer, but I think there are a good number of women running offices and leading innovation.

The biggest challenge is truly on the side of the inventors—commercialisation is such a foreign topic. It’s a particular challenge for women. They might not feel comfortable because they don’t have the language of commercialisation, they don’t want to make grandiose statements or they’ve just not been invited to participate. The funding that women get from venture capital is abhorrently low.

We’ve put together a programme, Women in Innovation and Technology (WIT), to address these gaps. It invites women to participate in commercialisation and provides them with a toolkit. We’ve reached gender parity on invention disclosures, with 50% female representation, and we are getting closer to parity on the patents we file.

I can’t control when a woman enters or leaves the university. They may leave after going through the programme, and many learners go on to fantastic positions at other universities. While it’s disappointing for us and we lose an excellent role model, it’s the nature of a university. We’re pollinating other institutions with prolific inventors, who can be role models at their new university.

"Together, we’ve totally transformed the culture of innovation in the last three years. We’ve more than doubled our invention disclosures and university startups."

We’ve also started a US national conference, called Equalize, where selected academic women inventors will receive six months of one-on-one mentorship with an investor or entrepreneur. In fact, last week, the first group of 12 pitched virtually and it was incredible.

It’s important to remember that a national effort is absolutely vital to making progress, as there’s not a single institution that can do everything. We just don’t have enough women inventors.

Is the profession doing enough to improve gender diversity?

AUTM, an association of more than 3,000 technology transfer professionals, is taking this very seriously. It has launched a committee and is looking at engagement, and the association is asking tech transfer offices to track their gender statistics. Other organisations such as the Intellectual Property Owners Organization have put together a toolkit to help companies and universities educate their researchers to promote patentable discoveries.

The fact that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other organisations are publishing data to report on how many patents women are applying for is helpful. Before, we didn’t know the numbers, but now more groups are coming forward and saying how important this is.

Aside from WIT, how are you involved in promoting diversity?

We are one of a handful of tech transfer offices that has an active programme to encourage women inventors. I speak to schools and other tech transfer offices and talk about what we do and how it might apply at their institutions.

I also testified before USPTO on the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success (Success) Act, which directed the office to report on patent diversity statistics.