INVENT: Accelerating Innovation and Commercialization
Peer Entrepreneur Forum

Do you have an idea, invention, a discovery, or simply want to learn about entrepreneurship? At this INVENT: Peer Entrepreneur Forum, our distinguished panelists will discuss their transition from a scientist/clinician to entrepreneur, sharing their unique insights, challenges, successes, and advice. Learn how you too can embark on your own entrepreneurial journey.

Join us in hosting:

Sandra Shotwell, PhD
Co-founder, CEO of DesignMedix and Co-founder of Elex Biotech
Dr. Shotwell is an experienced biotech entrepreneur, with a passion for global health. She is co-founder and CEO of DesignMedix Inc., and co-founder of Elex Biotech LLC, firms that develop small molecule therapeutics for infectious disease and heart disease, respectively. She previously cofounded Alta Biomedical Group LLC, a consulting firm focused on commercialization of life science technologies. A Certified Licensing Professional, she has done biotech and pharmaceutical licensing deals as a Licensing Associate for Stanford University, as founder and Chief of the Technology Licensing Branch for the National Institutes of Health/FDA/CDC, and as Director of Technology Transfer at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Shotwell has served on several for-profit and non-profit boards of directors and is an active angel investor.

Brian Martin, MD
CEO of Recentia Health
Dr. Martin is a physician, computer scientist, founder & CEO of Recentia Health. Previously, Brian was the Director of Medical Informatics at GE Healthcare with 150 people and a large budget at his command. He has been the CMIO at HDVC and Sedeo and CSO of MedPortal. He has been a Research and Clinical Assistant Professor at the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and Oregon Health Science University. Brian holds an MD in Medical Informatics from the University of Hawaii as well as a BA in Chemistry from Reed College.

Erik Tucker, PhD
COO of Aronora
Dr. Tucker is Co-Founder and COO of Aronora, an emerging biotechnology company and OHSU spin-off. He is an inventor of several pioneering drug candidates that are currently under development at Aronora to treat important blood clotting diseases, including stroke and heart attack. He completed a B.S. at the University of Oregon and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at OHSU. Dr. Tucker has authored more than 30 scientific publications, and was one of the Portland Business Journal's Forty under 40 class of 2015. He has raised over $21 million in non-dilutive NIH SBIR funding to help advance Aronora’s innovative therapeutic candidates into the clinic. He holds an adjunct faculty position at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at OHSU.

Greg Cox, PhD
Director of Corporate Development for MolecularMD
Dr. Cox is the Director of Corporate Development at MolecularMD, overseeing technology acquisition and IP matters, including technology prospecting, licensing and due diligence. In addition, he leads commercial partnering endeavors that align MolecularMD’s capabilities with best-in-class technology, reagent and platform support. Dr. Cox has over 20 years of experience in the life science and clinical oncology diagnostics industries that combines product development know-how and business development strategy. Previously, Dr. Cox was a Business Development Manager for Invitrogen and also served as a Staff Scientist and R&D Manager at Molecular Probes. Dr. Cox has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Indiana University, a Ph.D., in Molecular Embryology from the Indiana University School of Medicine and was an NIH post-doctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University.

This event was a collaboration between: