Entrepreneurship at the School of Medicine

The Office of Translation and Innovation (OTI) at CWRU School of Medicine works to foster commercialization, build relationships with pharmaceutical and biomedical device corporations, and develop strong partnerships in biomedical research at all levels. The office serves to assess and advise investigators with supported projects, to educate faculty, fellows and graduate students in technology transfer and development of research ideas, and to move promising candidates quickly from discovery to development. Our approach includes:

Building technologies by providing strong pre-clinical development programs
Attracting capital using CWRU endowment and state grants as a foundation to attract partner investors
Supporting the development of people by actively building entrepreneurship
Translational research support programs

More about resources through the OTI

CWRU Venture Mentor Program

The CWRU Venture Mentor Program (CVMP) provides team mentoring to CWRU and affiliate young faculty, students, and staff from a pool of local experts in a wide range of industries. Our process stems from the MIT Venture Mentor Service, a hugely successful program that has spawned over 100 similar programs across the U.S and around the world. Their processes are shown to provide a more likely chance that the venture will succeed, and that mentoring works best in a conflict-free, confidential, safe environment.

Learn more about CVMP

Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Club

Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship club (BIEC) was created to provide graduate students, postdocs and research staff with the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship and commercialization in the biomedical sector. The main goal of this club is to break down the barrier between academia and industry, allowing young researchers to explore their interest in developing their own products or start their own company. Every third Wednesday of the month, local experts are invited to introduce the basics of commercialization such as intellectual property, regulatory, finances available at CWRU, and entrepreneurship opportunities here at CWRU to our trainees, and each meeting is wrapped up with a networking session.

Past meetings include:

Alumni panels
CWRU Tech transfer office
Pitch deck workshop
Use LinkedIn to network and job search
Regulatory
Intellectual Property (IP)

Translational Fellows Program

Translational Fellows Program (TFP) was created to set aside time for budding entrepreneurs to pursue entrepreneurial efforts that they might normally have the time and resources for. Fellows selected for this competitive program are given 20% salary support to protect the fellow’s time to allow them to participate in CVMP, workshops, seminars and focus on the business end of their projects. The first year has welcomed 12 fellows from across CWRU and our affiliates.

Explore our Fellows