A former heavyweight in the pharmaceutical industry will highlight UNeMed’s events next week. Prabhavathi Fernandes, Ph.D., is expected to cover alternate careers in science with particular attention to the pharmaceutical industry.
Her talk is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 26, in the Durham Research Center Auditorium, beginning at 2 p.m. The title of her one-hour presentation is “Moving into the pharmaceutical industry — Can the dark side be bright for you?”
The seminar is part of UNeMed’s Innovation Week, a celebration of the innovative research and discoveries at UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. UNeMed is the technology transfer and commercialization office for UNMC and UNO.
Dr. Fernandes has more than 35 years of experience in pharmaceutical discovery, development and management. She held executive leadership positions with the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, and at Drug Discovery, Abbott Laboratories as the leader of Anti-Infective Discovery.
Dr. Fernandes has served on the U.S. Congressional Panel for Assessment of Impact of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria. In July, she was named chair of the National Biodefense Science Board for the U.S. government.
Innovation Week begins with an open house/kickoff event today from 9-11 a.m. at the Durham Research Center Atrium, where guests can grab a free T-shirt, coffee and other goodies.
Innovation Week’s major event is the Research Innovation Awards Banquet on Thursday, Oct. 25, beginning at 5 p.m. The awards honor all the UNMC and UNO faculty, students and staff who disclosed a new invention, received a U.S. patent or were inventors on a licensed technology during the previous fiscal year. This year, UNeMed will announce the 2018 Innovator of the Year and name the Most Promising New Invention of 2018.
The Innovation Awards is an invitation-only event.
Finally, UNeMed also is co-sponsoring the Invent-A-Thon, a judged competition among teams of local high school students. Teams will be tasked in a weeklong event to solve an actual health care problem using 3D printing and design. The winning team will receive an award and prize.
Teams will pitch their ideas and 3D-printed prototypes in final presentations on Friday, Oct. 26 at 5 p.m. in room 1005 of the Sorrell Center. That event is also free and open to all and will be followed by a short reception.