The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation said recently that Frank Douglas has joined the foundation as a senior fellow in entrepreneurship. The Kauffman Foundation said that Douglas will use his expertise in biotechnology, innovation, academia, and venture capital to advise Kauffman leadership on new programming opportunities.
Douglas is a partner at PureTech Ventures and is the chief scientific advisor for Bayer Healthcare, positions he will retain. Douglas founded and was the first executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Biomedical Innovation, where he also served as a professor in several departments. Prior to this, Douglas was executive vice president, chief scientific officer, and a member of the board of Aventis. He has also served as executive vice president of global research at Hoechst Marion Roussel and executive vice president of R&D at Marion Merrell Dow. He holds a PhD in physical chemistry and MD from Cornell University.
The board of directors of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse has approved the nomination of Lansing Taylor as chairman. He takes over for co-chairs Mark Nordenberg and Jared Cohon.
Taylor is already on the board of PLSG, and is the founder, president, and CEO of systems biology firm Cellumen. Prior to that, he served as chairman and CEO of high-content cell screening firm Cellomics, which he founded and which was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in September 2005. He also was a co-founder, member of the board, and scientific advisor to Biological Detection Systems, which was sold to Amersham Biosciences in 1996.
The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences said last week that Rick Williams has joined the organization as chief business officer.
As CBO, Williams will pilot and launch a translational medicine accelerator to create additional opportunities for universities, research institutions, and the Hamner to transfer technology and spin out new companies. Williams has held senior-level positions at companies such as Merck, Genentech, Amerisource Bergen, and CellzDirect.
The Hamner Institute, located in Research Triangle Park, NC, is an independent, non-profit organization with the goal of uniting academia, the private sector, and government to conduct translational biomedical research and expedite the development of new medicines.