Dear Colleagues:

I am writing to let you know that Barry Selick, PhD, who has served as vice chancellor for business development, innovation and partnerships at UCSF since 2017, will step down from his post on January 8.

I am deeply grateful for the leadership Barry has demonstrated in his five-plus years as head of Innovation Ventures and the ways it has improved our ability to work with our partners in industry. As a basic scientist who spent many years in biotech, Barry knew that the efforts of our faculty inventors would have a better chance of commercial success if they were more fully developed before we tried to license them.

Under his leadership, Innovation Ventures strengthened and expanded the support provided to our translational research community in funding and helping to manage proof-of-concept studies of drug molecules, device prototypes, digital health applications and more, to gather evidence on which inventions are most likely to help patients and address significant unmet medical needs. This effort has been reflected in the quality of UCSF start-up companies that benefit from both the technology as well as the hands-on support that the Innovation Ventures team provides to our faculty founders.

For example, the Catalyst Program, which has supported 264 projects over the past 12 years, has realized a return of more than 50 times its $10 million in funding, with more than 25 companies having licensed intellectual property. The InVent Fund, which Barry started, has funded 18 projects, all of which remain active. Both programs offer mentoring and access to more than 150 volunteer advisors, who have given our faculty invaluable help. Charles Hart, PhD, and Roopa Ramamoorthi, PhD, will continue leading them to support the translation of some of our most promising innovations into commercial opportunities and patient benefit.

The work of Innovation Ventures is important, and UCSF remains committed to supporting our faculty and their efforts in commercializing their inventions. To that end, I am grateful to Peter Kotsonis, PhD, assistant vice chancellor and executive director of strategic alliances within Innovation Ventures, for agreeing to serve as interim lead.

Barry’s next venture will be as CEO of an early-stage biotech company focused on a novel antibody platform for therapeutics, with an initial focus in oncology. Please join me in thanking him for his many contributions to UCSF.

Sincerely,

Sam Hawgood, MBBS

Chancellor

Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor