Please give us an overview of LSU Health, your department of Technology Management and the initiative you have around Innovation?
Located in the heart of the biomedical district of downtown New Orleans, LSU Health Sciences Center (LSU Health) is one of five research-intensive campuses of the LSU System. LSU Health is comprised of the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Public Health, Allied Health, and Graduate Studies. Our seven strategic research areas are in Oncology, Neuroscience, Cardiovascular Disease, Infectious Disease, Alcohol & Drug Abuse, Oral Health, and Public Health. Our researchers run the spectrum from basic research on fundamental properties of biological systems to patient outcome-centered clinical research – from the bench to the bedside.
The Office of Technology Management (OTM) is primarily responsible for the evaluation, protection, marketing, and licensing of LSU Health innovation- ultimately to get our research to the marketplace for public benefit. The office’s duties have been expanded to also include business development. OTM is looking to lower the activation energy required for industry, foundations, investors, and other external entities to engage with LSU Health. We’re interested in exploring all mutually beneficial partnering opportunities including collaborative or sponsored research, out-licensing our existing technologies, sourcing key opinion leaders, etc.
What are your top priorities for the program? How will you measure success for those priorities?
The top priority for my office is increasing LSU Health interaction with external partners. While NIH and other federal agency dollars will always be of primary importance, industry, foundations, and others can play a large role in growing our research base. These interactions can bring more immediate research problems to our institution as well as exposing our students to potential employers. Success in these endeavors is easy to measure- increased partnerships. I help build the relationship, communicate expectations to both sides, and work to maintain the partnership so that it grows beyond the initial point of contact.
Why is deliberate and thoughtful innovation so important to organizations like LSU Health?
The NIH is increasingly interested in research proposals with translational elements and innovation is what will help improve health outcomes of our local stakeholders. Also, as a smaller institution of higher education not on one of the coasts, we need to distinguish ourselves from our peers. By actively promoting a culture of innovation, be it in our approaches to research or the actual results of that research, we can better attract partners that will help us bring our innovations to the market sooner, ultimately for public benefit. New Orleans is home to several public and private research institutions with similar, yet complementary research strengths. Over the past few years, we’ve been banding together as a community to promote the city rather than our individual institutions specifically. LSU Health and other local institutions have had great success with this approach- we’re able to bring industry to us because they know they’ll be able to visit with more than one institution and the prospect of spending their travel budgets on a visit to New Orleans isn’t a tough sell.
When we spoke on the phone you mentioned Business Development is a big part of your job. Who are the main stakeholders you are collaborating with as part of the Business Development process?
There are two primary stakeholders in my business development activity. Internally, my focus is to increase the research dollars coming into the institution supporting the innovative and translational research my faculty is conducting. Externally, my job is to let industry and other interested parties know that there is world-class research happening in places other than the two coasts and that New Orleans is a fantastic place to do business.
Looking into your crystal ball in say 3 or 5 years; how will your program look different than it is today?
In three to five years, I believe that the business development aspect of my job- sourcing collaborations- will be the larger component of my office’s activities than traditional technology transfer. Successfully building collaborations with industry, foundations, and other external partners will necessarily increase the amount of innovation coming from the institution. Instead of passively sitting at the bottom of the research funnel waiting for innovation to be created, my office can help place dollars into the top of the funnel, thus increasing the chance of innovation resulting from any one research program.
About Patrick E. Reed, RTTP
Patrick E. Reed, Director of the Office of Technology Management (OTM) at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans (LSU Health), has been a member of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and in the technology transfer profession since 2001. Offices in which he has worked include a public agricultural college (LSU AgCenter), an engineering powerhouse (Georgia Tech), and a public medical school (LSU Health).
In New Orleans, Patrick facilitates the commercialization of LSU Health’s novel research for public benefit; develops mutually beneficial relationships with industry; fosters local economic development through startup creation; and helps reward, retain, and recruit faculty. Recently, his role was expanded beyond traditional technology transfer to include growing industry partnerships. Already working with industry on a daily basis, the transition to more of a one-stop-shop was effortless and helps minimize the number of gatekeepers between industry partners and LSU Health’s faculty.
Patrick earned a Master of Science degree in biotechnology from the Kellogg Center for Biotechnology at Northwestern University and has been awarded the Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) designation.