Knowledge Brokers
Knowledge Brokers are scientists helping scientists, serving as matchmakers between science and industry to source and launch new companies. QB3’s unique approach is based on its ability to drive innovation by identifying unexpected connections at the interface between scientific fields. While possessing expertise in a research specialty, each of QB3’s Knowledge Brokers is skilled at facilitating collaboration between different disciplines.
Knowledge Brokers
 |
Regis B. Kelly, Ph.D. Director of QB3 Prior to joining QB3 in 2004, Dr. Kelly served as executive vice-chancellor at UCSF; he oversaw the UCSF research enterprise and was also responsible for construction of the new Mission Bay campus. He is currently chairman of the Bay Area Scientific Innovation Consortium and has served on the boards of the Malaysian Biotechnology Industry Advisory Board, the Scleroderma Foundation, and Bridge Pharmaceuticals. He is an advisor to the Thailand Bionanotechnology Institute, Ho Chi Minh City Biotechnology Department Corp., University of Oxford Systems Biology Program, and the San Francisco Mayor’s Biotechnology Advisory Group. He joined the UCSF Department of Biochemistry in 1971 and has served as the University’s Director of Cell Biology Graduate Program, the Director of the Hormone Research Institute, and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. He earned an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Edinburgh and a Ph.D. in biophysics from the California Institute of Technology. |
 |
Douglas Crawford, Ph.D.
Associate Director of QB3. Specialties: QB3 Ambassador; cross-campus collaboration; assisting entrepreneurs with industry partnerships. Dr. Crawford is Associate Director of QB3. His goal is to help stimulate economic growth in California by promoting cross-discipline academic research and accelerating the transfer of the resulting innovations to the market. For instance, he created and manages the first incubator within the University of California, the QB3 Garage@UCSF, and the QB3 Mission Bay Incubator Network. Together these incubators have helped launch 23 companies. Crawford is also a founder and managing director of Mission Bay Capital, an $8.5 M seed-stage venture fund which will make pivotal early-stage investments in bioscience companies emerging from UC. He is a board member of the BayBio Institute and BioE2E, and chair of the UCSF Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute Virtual Home program. Crawford received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at UCSF. |
 |
Tracy M. Saxton, Ph.D. Director of Alliance Management. Specialties: QB3 Ambassador; cross-campus collaboration; assisting entrepreneurs with industry partnerships. Prior to joining QB3 in 2008, Dr. Saxton held positions at Bay Area biotechnology companies Tularik/Amgen, Threshold Pharmaceuticals and Geron Corporation. She began her diverse career as a drug discovery scientist, and moved to leadership roles in Global Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Development, Business Development and Project Management. She earned an undergraduate degree in Biology at Simon Fraser University and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of Toronto, and was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Fund fellow at UCSF. Dr. Saxton is currently an MBA candidate at the Haas/Columbia School of Business joint program. At QB3, Dr. Saxton manages the UC-Pfizer alliance. |
 |
Marc Shuman, M.D. Clinical Director of QB3. Specialty: Linking clinical investigators with unmet medical needs. Dr. Shuman is Professor of Medicine and Urology and co-leader of the Prostate Cancer Program in the Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF. In addition to being an oncologist-hematologist, he spends 30 percent of his time as Clinical Director of the QB3 Clinical Associates Program and head of the QB3 Anti-Medical School. His research lab is focused on understanding the genetic and biochemical mechanisms of tumor progression in prostate and breast cancers. Previously at UCSF, Shuman was chief of the Hematology and Oncology Division, and held positions in the Comprehensive Cancer Center, including Associate Director for Research and Education, Associate Director for Program Development, and a member of the Cancer Center Executive Committee since its inception. He served as Director of the Molecular Medicine Program in the School of Medicine for several years. He obtained his M.D. from Thomas Jefferson Medical College and has practiced at UCSF since 1976. |
Follow us on Twitter