U.Va. Patent Foundation Names Miette H. Michie Interim Director

June 4, 2009 — Miette H. Michie has been appointed to the position of interim executive director and chief executive officer of the University of Virginia Patent Foundation.

Currently serving as assistant director, Michie will lead the foundation effective June 6 while a search is performed to find a permanent successor to Robert S. MacWright. Michie has served as a licensing professional at the Patent Foundation since November 1999.

"As a senior member of the licensing staff, Miette has been a terrific asset to the U.Va. Patent Foundation, and we are very pleased to see her take on this new role," said Dr. Erik L. Hewlett, chairman of the Patent Foundation's board of directors and associate dean for research in the School of Medicine.

A Certified Licensing Professional, Michie has worked with numerous U.Va. inventors to commercialize their research over the past decade, having successfully negotiated and drafted more than 80 technology licensing agreements with industry. Specializing in the protection and licensing of biotechnologies as well as medical treatments and devices, she has also coordinated the Patent Foundation's marketing and licensing efforts pertaining to innovations coming out of the U.Va.-Coulter Translational Research Partnership.

"I look forward to this new role, and to taking on all the challenges and opportunities this position presents," Michie said. "Throughout this transition, I'm excited to work closely with the vice president for research and others as the University works to define its enhanced technology commercialization mission."

Prior to joining the foundation, Michie served as a research specialist at U.Va. and at the University of Southern California, where she studied the molecular implications of inflammatory bowel disease. Previously, she investigated toxic metal resistance in microorganisms as a Fulbright fellow at the University of Ghent in Belgium after receiving a master of science in molecular/cellular biology from the University of New Mexico in 1992.

MacWright, former executive director of the foundation, departed earlier this year to pursue a new role as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of law firm Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP. Marie C. Kerbeshian, who has been serving as interim director since his departure, will take on a new role as vice president of the Technology Transfer Office at the Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation, based in Indianapolis, later this month.

About the University of Virginia Patent Foundation

The University of Virginia Patent Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that serves to bring U.Va. technologies to the global marketplace by evaluating, protecting and licensing intellectual property generated in the course of research at U.Va. The Patent Foundation reviews and evaluates nearly 200 inventions per year and has generated approximately $85 million in licensing revenue since its formation in 1978.

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