Joel B. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. - Director & Senior Technology Portfolio Manager

Dr. Kirschbaum helped co-found and currently manages the University of California San Francisco’s technology transfer office. At UCSF the Office of Technology Management is responsible for evaluating, managing and licensing UCSF’s intellectual property, and helping create start-up biotechnology and medical device companies. Previously, he held executive biotechnology R&D positions with Ribogene, Berlex Biosciences and Stauffer Chemical Company (now part of Zeneca). Prior to joining industry, he was on the research faculty at Harvard Medical School. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University, where he trained in the laboratory of James D. Watson, a 1962 Nobel laureate, and earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Pomona College (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa).

You can contact Joel at 415-353-4462 or Joel.Kirschbaum@ucsf.edu

Karin Immergluck, Ph.D. - Sr. Licensing Officer

Karin rejoined the OTM in June 2004, following 2 ½ years as a Licensing Officer at the Office of Technology Transfer in the UC Office of the President in Oakland, and one year previous to that as a part-time Licensing Intern at the OTM. She is responsible for technology management, licensing and outgoing material transfer agreements. While at the OTT, Karin managed a large life-sciences portfolio consisting of technologies from seven of the UC campuses. Her activities included managing patent interferences, infringement issues and other licensing-related disputes. Karin conducted her doctoral work at UCSF in the laboratory of Dr. J. Michael Bishop, in collaboration with her Swiss mentor, Dr. Ernst Hafen of the University of Zurich. Her research focused on elucidating the developmental roles of a cancer-related tyrosine kinase gene in Drosophila melanogaster. She received a M.S.-equivalent degree in biochemistry from the University of Zurich in Switzerland, where she began her research in Drosophila genetics. Karin’s technical background is strongest in genetics, and cell, molecular and developmental biology.

You can contact Karin at 415-353-4469 or Karin.Immergluck@ucsf.edu

Sunita Rajdev, Ph.D. - Sr. Licensing Officer

Sunita joined OTM as a part-time Intern in September 2000 before joining the office full-time in April 2001. She is responsible for licensing, outgoing material transfer agreements and technology management. Prior to that she held a position of Assistant Research Neuroscientist in the Department of Neurosurgery at UCSF. Sunita did her graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh in Ian Reynold's lab in the field of excitotoxicity. She completed her postdoctoral training at UCSF in Frank Sharp's lab in the Department of Neurology. At UCSF, Sunita's research focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular injury in brain. She has a strong technical background in neuroscience, pharmacology, molecular and cell biology.

You can contact Sunita at 415-353-4470 or Sunita.Rajdev@ucsf.edu

Eileen Lee, Ph.D. - Senior Licensing Officer

Eileen joined the OTM licensing staff full-time in January 2006, after one year as a licensing intern and Patent Prosecution Analyst. She is responsible for technology management, licensing and outgoing material transfer agreements. Eileen earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology from The Pennsylvania State University working in the laboratory of Andrew Henderson where she studied the regulation of HIV-1 expression in macrophages. Following her graduate studies, Eileen spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow in Mark Schlissel’s laboratory at UC Berkeley studying the mechanisms of B and T cell development. Eileen received her B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and has a strong technical background in immunology, molecular and cell biology.

You can contact Eileen at 415-353-4664 or Eileen.Lee@ucsf.edu

Felice Lu, Ph.D. – Licensing Officer

Felice joined the OTM in September 2008 where her responsibilities include technology management, licensing, and outgoing material transfer agreements. Prior to joining the OTM, Felice analyzed investment opportunities in the diagnostic, biopharmaceutical, and medical device industries for the venture capital firms Canaan Partners and Burrill & Company. Previously she worked as a market analyst at Genentech, performing market and product reviews and competitive assessments. During graduate school, Felice interned at the OTM while conducting research in the areas of computational and medicinal chemistry. Felice holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and chemical biology from UCSF and a B.S. in chemistry from Harvey Mudd College.

You can contact Felice at 415-514-8205 or Felice.Lu@ucsf.edu

Ngoc-Ha Nguyen, Ph.D. - Senior Licensing Officer

Ha joined the OTM full-time in February 2005 after interning for 1 1/2 years. She is responsible for technology management, licensing, and outgoing material transfer agreements. Ha has a strong background in organic chemistry with training in molecular and cell biology. She earned her Ph.D. from UCSF in Chemistry and Chemical Biology in Thomas Scanlan’s lab. Her graduate studies entailed development of small molecule compounds as pharmacological probes to understand the molecular mechanism of thyroid hormone nuclear receptor function in thyroid-related diseases. Prior to that she received her B.S. in Chemistry from UC Irvine, where she did natural product synthesis in Kenneth Shea’s lab.

You can contact Ha at 415-353-4461 or Ngoc-Ha.Nguyen@ucsf.edu

Anson Nomura, Ph.D. - Senior Licensing Officer

Anson joined the OTM full-time in February 2005 after interning for one year. He is responsible for technology management, licensing, and outgoing material transfer agreements. Anson is trained in biochemistry with experience in molecular and structural biology. He earned his Ph.D. from UCSF in Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the labs of Charles S. Craik and Volker Doetsch. His graduate work involved the NMR characterization of a dimerization-dependent conformational change responsible for the regulation of a viral enzyme. Prior to his graduate studies, Anson worked as a research associate in the molecular and developmental biology lab of Richard A. Firtel at UC San Diego, where he also received his B.S. in Chemistry.

You can contact Anson at 415-353-4626 or Anson.Nomura@ucsf.edu

Kristin Agopian, Ph.D. - Licensing Associate

Kristin joined the OTM in August, 2008. Her responsibilities include technology management, licensing and outgoing material transfer agreements. She has one year of experience as a Senior Analyst with Health Advances, a consulting firm in the Boston area that provides business strategy solutions for biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic companies and non-profits. She has been a Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academies, where she worked with the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP) - a professional group dedicated to enhancing the technology transfer process. Kristin earned her Ph.D. in Virology from Harvard University in the laboratory of Dana Gabuzda. Her dissertation focused on the Nef protein of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Prior to her graduate studies, Kristin worked as a Research Assistant in the cell biology lab of Bernie Gilula at The Scripps Research Institute. She received her A.B. from Princeton University where she studied Drosophila development and speciation under Hope Hollocher.

You can contact Kristin at 353-4463 or kristin.agopian@ucsf.edu

Debbie Alexander, Ph.D. - Licensing Associate

Debbie joined the OTM in June 2009, after a one-year internship. Her responsibilities include technology management, licensing, and outgoing material transfer agreements.  Debbie received her scientific training in Great Britain.  She earned a  BSc in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Durham University and a DPhil in Plant Science from the University of Oxford, where she received a Gatsby Foundation Sainsbury Studentship to support her work in the laboratory of Jane Langdale. Following her graduate work, Debbie moved to Stanford, CA, to pursue postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Kathy Barton at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Plant Biology, where she studied the interrelationship between stem cells and the establishment of developmental axes during organ formation.  Prior to joining the OTM, she worked as a Scientific Curator at The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR), the international Arabidopsis database, to develop functional and phenotypic annotations for the Arabidopsis genome. Debbie has a strong background in developmental biology, genetics, and molecular biology.

You can contact Debbie at 415-514-8160 or debbie.alexander@ucsf.edu

David Eramian, Ph.D. – Licensing Associate

David joined the OTM in October 2007 as a part-time Licensing Assistant, becoming a full-time Licensing Associate in September 2008. He received an A.B in Philosophy and Sc.B. in Computational Biology from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from UCSF.  In addition to his graduate studies, David has performed wetlab and computational research at Brown University, Case Western Reserve University, and Biogen-Idec.  David is also a patent agent registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Reg. No. 60,814), and a J.D. candidate at Santa Clara University School of Law,where he is a Dean’s Fellowship recipient.

You can contact David at 415-514-8976 or David.Eramian@ucsf.edu

Ellen Kats, Ph.D. – Licensing Associate

Ellen joined the OTM full-time in February 2007. She is currently responsible for technology management, licensing, and outgoing material transfer agreements. Ellen received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from UC San Diego, while conducting her graduate research in the laboratory of Richard Kolodner. Her dissertation focused on the role of chromatin assembly factors in genomic stability, DNA repair and cell cycle control. Prior to graduate school, Ellen earned her B.A. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from UC Berkeley, while concurrently conducting research in epithelial morphogenesis at Keith Mostov’s lab at UCSF. Ellen has a strong background in molecular and cellular biology, cancer biology, and human and yeast genetics.

You can contact Ellen at 415-514-8210 or Ellen.Kats@ucsf.edu

Erin Overstreet, Ph.D. – Licensing Associate

Erin joined the OTM full-time in September 2008, after a six-month internship. She received her B.S. in Microbiology and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin, working in the laboratory of Janice Fischer where she studied cell fate determination in the Drosophila compound eye. Erin then went on to a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Larry Zipursky at UCLA, studying the mechanisms of neuronal connection specificity in fruit fly brains. With a strong background in molecular and cellular biology, genetics, and neurobiology, Erin’s responsibilities include technology management, licensing, and outgoing material transfer agreements.

You can contact Erin at 415-514-8211 or Erin.Overstreet@ucsf.edu

Susan Nakashima - Patent Prosecution and Business Manager

Susan joined the OTM in April 2000, where she is responsible for managing patent prosecution, agreement compliance, government reporting, case finances, and the operating budget. Before joining OTM, Susan spent over 5 years as a Licensing Assistant and Analyst at UC's Office of the President. Prior to her career in technology transfer, she spent ten years as a computer programmer/systems analyst. An avid fan of the outdoors, she receives immense pleasure exploring the various parks around the bay area and spending time with her son, an artist, and daughter, a soon-to-be architect. A graduate of Cal Poly Pomona, Susan has a B.S. in mathematics and in her free time enjoys West Coast Swing dancing and travelling both in the U.S. and abroad.

You can contact Susan at 415-353-4471 or Susan.Nakashima@ucsf.edu

Michael Karasik - Administrative Manager

You can contact Michael at 415-353-4472 or Michael.Karasik@ucsf.edu

Dan Abel, J.D. - Sr. Patent Prosecution Analyst

Dan joined the OTM in March 2006, where he works with the administrative group that manages the patent rights in UCSF’s intellectual property. Working closely with OTM’s Business Manager, Susan Nakashima, he is responsible for handling patent prosecution matters in addition to managing the patent tracking/docketing system. Dan earned both his B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) and J.D. degrees from the University of Florida. Prior to joining the OTM, he worked in real estate specializing in the rehabilitation of residential and commercial property. An avid sports fan, Dan also enjoys cooking, reading, and exploring the Bay Area with his Lab, Bluto.

Dan can be reached at 415-353-4655 or Dan.Abel@ucsf.edu

Bernadette Emrick - Patent Prosecution Assistant

Bernadette is the OTM Prosecution Assistant, working with Susan Nakashima on government reporting, administration of human embryonic stem cells, and a variety of patent related issues.  She earned her undergraduate degree at San Francisco State University where she majored in art.  Prior to joining the OTM, Bernadette was the Operations Manager for UC Berkeley’s Office of Technology Licensing.  She is also currently enjoying working as a visual artist, specializing in collage, and has had many shows of her work in the Bay Area.

You can contact Bernadette at 415-353-4473 or Bernadette.Emrick@ucsf.edu

Audrey Werner - Business Analyst

Audrey joined the OTM in December of 2007 as the Business Analyst, assisting the Patent Prosecution and Business Manager in case compliance and administration. She received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is currently enrolled in the M.B.A. program at California State University, East Bay. Audrey also enjoys cooking, running, biking and spending time with her miniature dachshund, Kaia.

You can contact Audrey at 415-514-8997 or Audrey.Werner@ucsf.edu.

Janna Huie - Accounting Assistant

Prior to joining the OTM, Janna spent 4 ½ years as an Accounting Assistant in UC’s Office of The President’s Office of Technology Transfer. Previously she spent 13 ½ years as a lead in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Accounts Payable Department while working toward a degree in accounting. In her spare time, Janna has been a school volunteer and enjoys swimming, and spending time and travelling with her family.

You can contact Janna at 510-587-6039 or janna.huie@ucop.edu.

For Internal Users: Processing Staff Changes