Negotiation Course Instructors

Alan Bentley has served as the director of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization since 2011.  Previous technology transfer experience includes directing the licensing operations at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Virginia Patent Foundation.  He is active in several professional societies and serves on a number of corporate and community boards.  Alan has been a registered U.S. Patent Agent since 1999 and is a Certified Licensing Professional.  

Karthik Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D. joined the Harbert Institute in 2019 and manages the commercialization efforts of UAB technologies as director of licensing and new ventures.

Karthik holds more than 15 years of experience in asset and technology evaluation across broad scientific disciplines, marketing and negotiating agreements and contracts, business plan assessment, startup formation and fundraising. He previously worked at Duke University Office of Licensing & Ventures and as a consultant with a biotechnology startup in the oncology space leading their strategic planning and business development efforts. Karthik earned a Master of Science in Biotechnology from the MS University of Baroda, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. Karthik completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, NC.
 
Hina Mehta is the Director, Office of Technology Transfer at George Mason University. In this role, Hina oversees all aspects of bringing university-initiated innovations to the marketplace. She is responsible for developing strategies for marketing, licensing and commercialization of intellectual property developed by university investigators. At Mason, she mentors faculty led teams in NSF funded entrepreneurship programs such as I-Corps. She brings together industry experts to assess the portfolio of multi-disciplinary inventions and facilitates seed funding through intramural mechanisms. Her previous experience includes biomedical research, strategic consulting and co-founding a startup. Hina is passionate about community service, and devotes her free time to three nonprofit organizations and serves as an advisor and mental health ambassador for DHHS, Montgomery County, MD.  She is a recipient of Maryland Governor’s citation and Volunteer Excellence Service Award. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, India and an MBA from Robert H. Smith School of Business, Univ. of Maryland. 

Dr. Michael Moore, is the director of technology transfer in the Office of Innovation Commercialization at Augusta University where he manages intellectual property originated at Augusta University, leads efforts to commercially license new discoveries and helps position innovative projects in the marketplace. He also assists with the operations at the university’s Life Sciences Business Development Center.

Prior to his role at Augusta University, Michael worked as the Director of Licensing and Life Sciences at Northwestern University. In this position, he managed inventions with a life science and medical focus, including therapeutics, medical devices and health information technology.

Moore earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also received his master’s and doctoral degrees in biochemistry from the University of California San Diego.

Brian Shedd, PhD, is Executive Director for the newly formed Office of Innovation and Commercialization at UT Permian Basin. He supports all the faculty, staff, and students at UTPB in their innovation and research commercialization goals as well as interfacing with the external business community to develop partnerships, collaborations, and form new companies. The office also runs the UTPB Incubator and the future Makerspace which will have leasable space for companies and facilities for prototype manufacturing. 

Brian comes to UTPB after having been the Director of Technology Commercialization at the University of Houston for the past 3 years. Prior to that he worked in technology transfer roles at LSU and UCLA. He founded and ran a private consulting company focused on the nexus between university technology transfer and small business. Brian earned MS and PhD degrees from UCLA in Mechanical Engineering, and BS In Mechanical Engineering from University of Colorado, and a BA in Physical Science from Southwestern University. 

Ursula Vosylius joined Kite Pharma, a Gilead company in 2019 and is an Executive Director and Head of Alliance Management.  She is a seasoned alliance management professional and licensed attorney with over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry.  Her strengths include problem solving and collaborating for value-creation.  In her current role, Ursula manages a portfolio of US and Global alliances ranging from discovery research to commercial products.

Before joining Kite, Ursula held various roles within Corporate Development, Finance, and R&D at Amgen; with her focus most notably in Alliance Management.  Her legal experience spans both the biotechnology and aerospace industries and was preceded by her first research role in San Diego at Amylin Pharmaceuticals.

Ursula is passionate about the environment and was the former Legal Committee Chair for the Sierra Club, Angeles Chapter from 2007 through 2016 and biotechnology advisor to B Revolution Capital during this period. She received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey and a Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University, in Malibu, California.