Wilbur Lamb, professor and W. Paul Bowers Research Chair in Pediatrics and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Tech, has been named Emory University’s first vice president for entrepreneurship. . The appointment, effective this month, was announced by Ravi V. Bellamkonda, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
In this new part-time role, Lamb will foster a vibrant startup culture among Emory students who want to transform their ideas into marketable products and services through Hatchery and other units. We will continue to expand programming and instruction for students who desire it.
An experienced entrepreneur himself, Lamb will partner with leaders, schools, and units across Emory to create a more clearly defined, integrated pathway for faculty and student entrepreneurship. It’s a schedule. Additionally, we will expand the efforts of Emory Innovations Inc., a holding company for select portfolio companies, to advance initiatives aimed at supporting faculty in moving highly vetted discoveries and inventions to market-ready stages. .
“Supporting innovation and entrepreneurship is a priority for President Gregory L. Fenves and Emory’s leadership team across the company,” Bellamkonda said. “As vice provost for entrepreneurship, Wilbur will work with deans and other leaders to elevate Emory as a leader in the field while fostering an environment where innovative ideas thrive and entrepreneurship thrives.” Contribute.
“By building synergies across universities and creating a more intentional pipeline for delivering innovation to society, we will enable more students and faculty to effectively pursue their entrepreneurial ideas.” I am confident that it will be.”
Bellamkonda said entrepreneurship is directly tied to Emory University’s mission to create and apply knowledge for the benefit of humanity, and the new role will support the university’s strong reputation as an incubator of world-changing ideas and inventions. It was pointed out that it is based on
For example, molnupiravir, a breakthrough antiviral drug for COVID-19, was discovered at Emory and is part of Emory’s Drug Innovation Ventures (DRIVE), one of the accelerator initiatives that make up Emory Innovations, Inc. progress toward use in patients. Emory scholars recently ranked Emory University third in the world among public research institutions in the development of FDA-approved drugs and vaccines, and each year Emory Scholars create new innovations in a wide range of fields.
One of Mr. Ram’s priorities is to work closely with EII board members Mr. Bellamkonda, Executive Vice President of Health Ravi Sadani, and Executive Vice President to improve the current focus on drug development. Beyond this, we are expanding the scope of the EII as a unique source of translational support for promising Emory inventions. Christopher Augustini, President of Business Administration.
Similarly, Lam works closely with the Hatchery to expand support for student startups, with the center supporting 159 student ventures since its founding in 2020, of which nearly 60 have been launched. Build on success.
“The concept of entrepreneurship is to take an idea that you have and use it and translate it to impact as many people as possible,” Lamb said. “It goes hand in hand with our values at Emory. We want our students to be change agents who impact the world. It’s just about teaching them skills on how to scale it.”
Lam believes that coordinating and integrating existing innovation efforts across the institution will ensure students and faculty have the resources they need to pursue and develop their ideas. He envisions opportunities to improve Emory’s innovator experience and reduce redundancies by strengthening partnerships between offices and departments, such as the Hatchery and Technology Transfer Office, as well as school-based and student-led initiatives. I am.
“There are great efforts going on separately in our school, the hatchery, and many other departments on campus,” Lamb points out. “By building synergies and allowing these entrepreneurial programs to work together and coordinate across the enterprise, we can build a pipeline of innovation that benefits faculty and students everywhere.”
Since joining Emory in 2011, Lamb has pursued his passion for innovation and entrepreneurship through impactful research and engaging students and colleagues in work that improves the lives of the broader community. . His lab’s research focuses on transforming technology into cost-effective solutions that allow patients to more easily monitor their conditions at home. He co-founded three point-of-care and home diagnostic companies based on his laboratory’s research, one of which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Another company recently received FDA clearance for one of its home diagnostic tests that allows anemia patients to self-monitor their hemoglobin levels and has developed a smartphone screening app that has been downloaded and used more than 1.4 million times. This app allows anyone to non-invasively screen for anemia without the need for a blood draw.
Under his leadership, the recently established Center for the Advancement of Diagnostics for a Just Society (ADJUST Center) is dedicated to making diagnostics reliable, accessible, and affordable for all communities and all economic backgrounds. We aim to develop and implement technology.
Mr. Lamb is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, elected to the National Academy of Medicine, elected to the American Society for Clinical Research, and currently serves as Associate Dean for Innovation and Vice Chair for Innovation at Emory University School of Medicine. Serving. He is co-director of the Children’s Technology Center of Atlanta Pediatrics and Children’s Medical Center. He is also a physician at Aflac Children’s Medical Center in Atlanta. He will continue in his role as vice provost as we build a more unified, institutional approach to entrepreneurship at Emory University.
“We have the will and talent to take ideas and scale them in every part of the Emory ecosystem. We just need to unite our efforts,” Lamb says. “This cannot be done alone; it must be a university-wide effort, and I am honored to take the lead.”
