Inside LVG

Enriching the Ecosystem

New venture creation is one of the pillars of economic development that drives job creation and helps attract and retain industry in Charlottesville. We are thrilled to support LVG as they elevate this program with expert industry veterans to launch new ventures from the UVA research portfolio.”

– Pace Lochte (EDUC ’05, DARDEN ’08), Assistant VP for Economic Development

In 2019, LVG launched an “Entrepreneurs in Residence” program of experts, entrepreneurs and executives in residence to accelerate startup formation from the UVA research portfolio. Since then, we have been able to significantly scale the program and contribute to the growth of the Charlottesville innovation ecosystem thanks to our strategic partners.

Supported by the UVA Office of Economic Development, Albemarle County Economic Development and the City of Charlottesville Office of Economic Development, the LVG EIR program is now a powerful resource offering UVA faculty innovators access to seasoned professionals with experience in early-stage technology commercialization and new venture creation.

By formalizing this program and expanding its scope, we have also been able to extend our resources in support of our community partner, CvilleBioHub, to launch their own EIR program. Three years ago, CvilleBioHub was awarded $548,000 from the GO Virginia Initiative to lead the growth and expansion of the biotechnology innovation cluster in Central Virginia.

Entrepreneurs in Residence

Our cohort of EIRs includes leaders who are UVA alumni, founders and investors who possess business acumen, industry experience with early tech commercialization, strategic planning and fundraising. Two of the EIRs in our first cohort have successfully launched and sold UVA startup companies in the last decade.

Helen Boyd

Executive in Residence

Helen Boyd has nine years of experience in the energy industry, working in various finance positions at different subsidiaries of the Royal Dutch / Shell Group in both the U.K. and U.S. Helen’s experience at Shell included working in corporate strategy, shipping, and as finance advisor, finance manager and risk control manager in several different trading subsidiaries.

Kevin Combs

Entrepreneur in Residence

Kevin Combs is a founder, entrepreneur and investor with experience in building operating companies to produce outsized value, while maintaining fiscal conservativeness. He is currently the CEO and Managing Director of Keswick Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company focused on commercializing Rx pharmaceutical products for areas of unmet or under-met disease states.

Andrew Krouse

Entrepreneur in Residence

Andrew Krouse has over a decade of biotech investing and leadership experience with a track record of success as the founder and CEO of Tau Therapeutics, LLC, Xdynia LLC, and venture backed Cavion, Inc. Prior to his experience in the pharmaceutical industry, he worked as an analyst for Goldman Sachs, NYC, and served as Vice President of the UVA Darden Graduate School of Business. Most recently, he led the acquisition of UVA startup, Cavion, to industry leader Jazz Pharmaceuticals. ENGR ‘00 COM ‘97

Mike Raker

Entrepreneur in Residence

Mike Raker is the CTO of Improbable Defence, a mission-focused technology company working to transform the national security of our nations and their allies. Raker is also an active member of both the Charlottesville Angel Network and the Country Roads Angel Network.

Chad Rogers

Entrepreneur in Residence

Chad Rogers is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in medical device technology, early stage startup management and venture capital. Rogers founded TypeZero Technologies, Inc. in 2013 and has led several successful startups throughout the course of his career as an investor, consultant and corporate executive. In 2018, TypeZero was acquired by the medical device company Dexcom (DXCM), a leader in continuous glucose monitoring technology.

Executive in Residence Helming HIV Care Platform

Thousands of people with HIV, the virus that can cause AIDS, are overcoming barriers to their care thanks to a mobile health platform licensed by Warm Health Technology, a Charlottesvillebased company started by UVA LVG.

Warm Health Technology President and Chief Operating Officer Helen Boyd, a member of LVG’s Entrepreneur in Residence program, is helping get PositiveLinks into the hands of the people who need it most.

Recently, the platform was lauded by the Health Resources and Services Administration -- a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agency that oversees the federally funded Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program – as a best practice.

“The fact that HRSA has recognized PositiveLinks as a best practice will help to support requests for funding from any organization that provides care for people with HIV and hopes to include this powerful tool in their box,” Boyd said. “We hope that this endorsement will allow more patients to use the platform and have better long-term health outcomes. They will be able to keep their medication adherence strong, achieve viral suppression and thrive.” Developed at UVA by Rebecca Dillingham, an infectious disease physician, and Karen Ingersoll, a clinical psychologist, PositiveLinks – available to healthcare organizations throughout the U.S. and worldwide under the name PL Cares – is deployed by clinics and community-based organizations to connect people with HIV to a digital support community.

The client-facing app helps people with a new diagnosis of HIV become engaged with care and helps people at risk of dropping out of care overcome barriers, including geographic or social isolation. From the app,

ABOVE: WARM HEALTH PLATFORM

RIGHT: 2020 INNOVATORS OF THE YEAR KAREN INGERSOLL & DR. REBECCA DILLINGHAM

people can access HIPAA-compliant patient dashboards, secure messaging with clinic providers, patient lab records and social support from other people with HIV.

The HRSA recognition follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors including PositiveLinks in their compendia of recommended interventions for the support of people with HIV.

“We are thrilled for Helen and the entire team at Warm Health Technology,” UVA LVG Executive Director Richard Chylla said. “This is a platform that continues to help so many people around the world, which aligns with our core mission here at LVG. We couldn’t be more proud.”

Boyd has been an Executive in Residence in LVG’s EIR program since 2019. “The LVG executives in residence come from a variety of backgrounds and provide a wealth of realworld experience that can be applied to strengthen the ideas and inventions developed at UVA,” Boyd said. “While an academic setting is a great environment for research and the creation of new ideas and products, there are so many steps to consider if you want to make your invention available to others beyond the walls of UVA.

“Whether someone is looking to create a startup company to commercialize their invention, get input on what investors are looking for, or decide whether their idea would be better suited to a nonprofit setting, the EIRs can provide advice and help develop a plan for moving forward.”

Tech Transfer 101

LVG maintains experiential learning opportunities for students to engage in our business processes which require broad scientific expertise, business insight and legal acumen to convert scientific research into practical applications. Using real examples from our pipeline, students gain hands-on professional experience while providing tangible support to our team.

My internship with the LVG licensing team coincided with the end of my

Ph.D. program at UVA when I was exploring post-graduation career opportunities. It was a great experience that gave me insight into different aspects of technology transfer from licensing to intellectual property. It helped me decide to pursue a career in the field, and following graduation, I joined Ice Miller LLP as a Technical Advisor. I currently work at the firm as a Patent Agent and enjoy applying my technical knowledge to the role and learning about different biotech inventions” –Sarah Pollock, Ph.D. (BIMS ’19)

Technology Commercialization Workshop

In FY20, LVG formalized our licensing educational programming and internships into a comprehensive Technology Commercialization Workshop which serves as a prerequisite for a spring internship with the LVG licensing team. UVA graduate students and post-doc fellows gain a basic understanding of technology commercialization and learn to identify the value of scientific and technological innovations to the world of industry, business, and entrepreneurship.

Led by LVG Licensing Associate Cortney Mushill, the two-night workshop covers everything from intellectual property management and effectively protecting and commercializing the results of scientific research to business development and licensing negotiations. This year’s event will take place on Oct. 25 and Nov. 1 at LVG’s offices.

In collaboration with the UVA Law School and the UVA Darden School of Business, LVG offers accredited curriculum coursework opportunities and internships for professional students throughout the year.

Patent Law & Licensing Clinic

Each semester, LVG – under the direction of Senior Patent Attorney & General Counsel Rob Decker and licensing team members -- runs a UVA School of Law clinic in which students learn how to evaluate inventions and computer software for patentability and commercial value; counsel investors regarding patentability; determine inventorship; and prepare, file and prosecute provisional U.S. and international patent applications.

Due Diligence in Seed Fund Investing

Due Diligence in Seed Fund Investing is an elective course offered within the entrepreneurship, innovation and strategy discipline of Darden’s MBA curriculum. Each year, 12 second-year students join the class led by Bob Creeden, Managing Director of the LVG Seed Fund & New Ventures. Students gain exposure to the operations of the LVG Seed Fund and learn an industry-proven diligence process using real examples from our pipeline.

UVA LVG Internships

In LVG’s internship program, students learn about the process of taking earlystage technologies from the lab to the marketplace.

RACHELLE TURIELLO, LEFT, AND RENNA NOUWAIRI, RIGHT, SAY THEIR EXPERIENCE AS LVG INTERNS HAS BEEN INVALUABLE.

Ph.D. Students Learn Finer Points of Commercialization Through LVG Program

Working in a University of Virginia chemistry and mechanical engineering lab came naturally to Ph.D. candidate Rachelle Turiello. Prior to her time at UVA, she worked for the Baltimore Police Department’s Crime Scene Unit and in the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Forensic DNA/Serology Unit.

But when it came to taking some of the innovations from an academic lab setting and pitching them during presentations to scientists and potential investors for commercialization, the next step in turning an invention into a possible business? Well, that was another story.

“I always struggled to determine which details were worthy of discussion,” Turiello said.

Enter the UVA Licensing & Ventures Group.

Every spring, LVG has a paid internship program designed specifically for students like Turiello. The main objective: to teach the commercialization process that is behind taking early-stage technologies from the lab into the marketplace.

Throughout the internship, students gain insight into a career that requires broad scientific expertise, business insight and legal acumen to convert basic research into practical applications.

“Students learn about the business development process and help the LVG team create marketing materials that highlight exciting technologies developed at UVA,” LVG Licensing Associate Cortney Mushill said. “This experience is valuable and a résumé-builder for any position in industry.”

The LVG communications office caught up with Turiello and fellow Ph.D. candidate Renna Nouwairi – a former chemistry, physics and robotics teacher at Stuart Hall School in Staunton – to hear more about their experiences in the program. Q. What are some specific things you did during your internships, and how do you think the overall experience might help in your future careers?

Turiello: As an intern under the direction of Josh Mauldin, Cortney Mushill and Johnathon Dooley, the priority was to review intellectual property and generate pitch decks for presentations to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies seeking in-licensing at the 2022 BIO International Conference. Developing these decks can be tricky and requires curating a narrative for reviewers that illustrates the potential impact of the work as a whole, rather than showcasing the experimental details or early hurdles.

The team met with us each week to discuss our decks, ensuring that UVA technologies were properly detailed and accurately depicting each creative, robust approach. The experience has certainly informed my role as a Ph.D. candidate in [UVA professor] James Landers’ lab. I’m certain my new skills will be an asset as I move forward with my projected career goals.

Nouwairi: In our research lab, we work to create technology with the potential for commercialization. Through LVG, we put together marketing material, specifically pitch decks, for UVA technology that will be shown to interested companies seeking in-licensing. It has been informative to see what goes into tech transfer from a legal standpoint as opposed to a science viewpoint.

For example, as scientists, we tend to emphasize the details in methodology and the results of every experiment that led to our conclusions. But when pitching to a company or investor, it is more important to focus on the overall impact of a technology and show just a few influential pieces of the data that support the bigger picture. Knowing this, we have adjusted how we pitch our research when applying for grants, talking to potential sources of funding, and even updating collaborators. Working with LVG has been a wonderful learning experience.

LVG Staff

Leadership

Richard W. Chylla Executive Director

Licensing

Cortney L. Mushill, Ph.D. Licensing Associate

Legal

Robert J. Decker, J.D. Senior Patent & General Counsel Robert J. Creeden Managing Director, UVA LVG Seed Fund & New Ventures

Jay Hyun-Jung Lee Licensing Associate

G. Eden Para Senior Patent Paralegal Joshua P. Mauldin Director, Licensing

Johnathon Dooley Licensing Analyst

Paul Coaker Legal Assistant Jill Simandl Director of Finance and Operations

Lakshmi Narayanan Licensing Analyst

Seed Fund & New Ventures

Matthew D. Rannals Senior Venture Associate

Operations

Nicole L. Leister Information & Compliance Manager Whitelaw Reid Manager of Strategic Communications Mary Anderson Finance Assistant Maggie Hyde Executive Assistant/ Office Manager

722 Preston Avenue, Suite 107 P.O. Box 80075 Charlottesville, VA 22903 lvg@virginia.edu lvg.virginia.edu

434-924-2175 Phone 434-982-1583 Fax