October 31, 2012
I am pleased to announce that the vacancy created by the departure of Stephen Abreu this past June has finally been filled. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Sophia Chang as our new Industry Contracts Manager. Sophia will officially start tomorrow, November 1st. She will be primarily located at China Basin but will also have “office hours” at the Parnassus campus to facilitate meetings with faculty members and staff researchers to discuss any issues they have with industry partners, to explore business development opportunities, and to help manage their intellectual property portfolios.
Sophia joins us from the campus Industry Contracts Division where she has worked for the past four years as an Industry Contracts Officer. In that capacity she successfully negotiated and executed over 650 agreements including material transfer agreements, clinical trial agreements, and sponsored research agreements among others. Sophia received her JD from the Hastings College of the Law in 2009 and her BS in Microbiology from UCLA in 2003. She was admitted to the California State Bar in 2009 and the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2012.
We are very fortunate to have her join us and believe that the unique skills she brings with her will serve our faculty and their research interests very well. Please note that Sophia will focus her attentions on the research activities within the Diabetes Center and the Departments of Dermatology and Microbiology here at UCSF. She will not be directly involved in the ITN. I will continue to be the point of contact for all ITN – Industry matters. Sophia will however back me up during vacations and other absences from the office. Please take a moment to welcome Sophia and wish her well. Sophia can be reached at 415-278-0702 or by e-mail at either sophia.chang@ucsf.edu or schang@immunetolerance.org.
Best, Kevin Kaier
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