Academic and Industry Perspectives on Life Science Innovation featuring George Tolomiczenko.
There are a few things we can safely say about the term “Translational Research.” One is that there are many definitions held by different people keen to see knowledge mobilized into action motivated by an array of different goals. Another is that there are different images that come to mind associated with the term. Is yours “Bench to bedside?” Maybe “Idea to market?” Do you picture a scientist? Do you picture Thomas Edison? What is your setting?
Within the life sciences, the recent Nobel Laureates, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier hopefully come to mind. These scientists shared the 2020 prize in Chemistry for their breakthrough research in the development of CRISPR technology as a gene editing tool. The Nobel committee nominated them as lead actors, out of a larger cast of scientists and industry actors. Both the lead and supportive nominees of this most recent exciting and ongoing story spur us to revisit our definitions of translational research in the life sciences. (If you have the new book by Walter Isaacson titled “The Code Breaker,” Dr. Tolomiczenko recommends that you skim it before joining the session if you haven’t read it already).
Dr. Tolomiczenko will use the gene editing revolution to illustrate how the life science industry benefits from a diversity of definitions for translational research and why ecosystems that invite and support embodiments of such variation are more likely to prosper. More importantly, your questions and input to this discussion will help to generate some ideas about what we can do, together, to set such a stage here in Southern California.
Dr. Tolomiczenko currently serves as Executive Director at Merkin Institute for Translational Research. His interdisciplinary experience as a clinician, researcher, professor and administrator jointly inform his inclusive approach toward fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship conducive to stakeholders aiming to translate ideas into products that improve health and healthcare delivery. This role builds on a track record of linking engineering and medicine at other academic institutions for almost twenty years. He earned an undergraduate degree from Caltech, a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Boston University plus master’s degrees in Public Health from Harvard University and in Business Administration from the University of Toronto.
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
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