Rice Biotech Launch Pad introduces external advisory board

Group includes national and Houston-based leaders in science, academia, venture capital and investment banking 

HOUSTON, Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rice University today announced its external advisory board for the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, the new accelerator focused on expediting the translation of the university's health and medical technology discoveries into cures. Officially unveiled in September, the accelerator will help Rice researchers to advance internally discovered platform technologies from concept to clinical studies and commercialization.

Under the direction of the Launch Pad's co-founders Omid Veiseh and Paul Wotton, the external advisory board will provide counsel in support of the accelerator's mission, which is to identify and support highly differentiated projects while driving the expansion of Houston as a world-class medical innovation ecosystem. The external advisory board members are:

• Jason Bock, Ph.D., founder and CEO of CTMC, a joint venture between Resilience and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
  
  
• Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D., managing partner at Frazier Life Sciences, a health care investment firm.
  
  
• Rima Chakrabarti, M.D., partner at KdT Ventures and adjunct professor of Neuroscience at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.
  
  
• John Flavin, MBA, founder and CEO of Portal Innovations, co-founder and chairman of Pyxis Oncology and entrepreneurial advisor of Argonne National Laboratory.
  
  
• Pierre Jacquet, M.D., Ph.D., managing director and vice chairman of L.E.K.'s health care consulting practice.
  
  
• Robert Langer, Sc.D., professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrated Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leader of the Langer Lab.
  
  
• Dennis Lee, Ph.D., senior program officer of chemistry, manufacturing and controls at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  
  
• Ferran Prat, Ph.D., J.D., senior vice president of research administration and industry relations at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
  
  
• Josh Richardson, M.D., managing director and senior investor on the life sciences investing team at Goldman Sachs.
  
  
• David Schull, J.D., president of Russo Partners, a public and investor relations firm that works with innovators in health and technology.
  
  
• Lisa Wright, MBA , president and CEO of Community Health Choice, a Houston-based, nonprofit, managed care organization.

"The ability to bring together such an accomplished and distinguished group of experts to serve as advisors speaks to the importance of this work and the bold vision established by this innovative accelerator," Rice President Reginald DesRoches said.

Veiseh, an associate professor of bioengineering and the accelerator's faculty director, said, "The formation of the external advisory board brings together both Houston leaders and industry experts to collaborate on developing the next generation of health and medical technology. In today's dynamic and ever-evolving landscape, the value of expertise and diverse perspectives cannot be overstated. Our external advisory board is comprised of visionary leaders and industry trailblazers. I look forward to welcoming them to the Rice Biotech Launch Pad team as we continue to scale the capabilities of the accelerator."

Wotton, the accelerator's executive director and chairman, said, "We have made rapid progress since the launch of the accelerator. This includes the recent announcement of the $45 million funding awarded by ARPA-H for the THOR project. With our building of an external advisory board, we are well-positioned for additional fundraising initiatives as well as the identification of the next projects we will support. We appreciate the commitment and dedication of the external advisory board members to help us realize the vision of the Biotech Launch Pad."

About the Rice Biotech Launch Pad 

The Rice Biotech Launch Pad is a Houston-based accelerator focused on expediting the translation of Rice University's health and medical technology discoveries into cures. This initiative is designed to help advance internally discovered platform technologies from concept to clinical studies and commercialization. The Rice Biotech Launch Pad will identify and support highly differentiated projects while driving the expansion of Houston as a world-class medical innovation ecosystem. The accelerator will bring together local researchers with a network of industry executives. For more information, please visit https://biotechlaunchpad.rice.edu/.

About Rice University

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,552 undergraduates and 3,998 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.

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SOURCE Rice University