Please join us for our annual Celebration of Inventorship, at which UNC-Chapel Hill innovators who have received a US Patent or Patents during calendar 2014 are honored with the presentation of commemorative plaques and our Inventor of the Year is recognized. This year, we are pleased to announce that Dhiren Thakker, PhD, has been selected as our Inventor of the Year. Dr. Thakker will speak to the gathering about his experiences as an innovator and entrepreneur. Following the presentations, snacks and drinks will be offered and we will have the opportunity to visit and network a final time for the 2014-2015 seminar season.

Dhiren Thakker, PhD, is the Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and associate dean for entrepreneurial development and global engagement. He is also a researcher focusing on drug absorption and metabolism, as well as a start-up entrepreneur.

Thakker joined the faculty at the School in 1996 after stints in research at the National Institutes of Health and in drug discovery at Glaxo Inc. (now GlaxoSmithKline). He has also worked at the FDA. Thakker has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Kansas and a master’s in pharmaceutical chemistry from Columbia University. He came to the United States after earning his undergraduate degree in pharmacy at Bombay University in Bombay, India (now Mumbai).

Just two years after coming to UNC, Thakker assume the role of associate dean of graduate and research programs. He is also a scientific founder and member of the board for Qualyst, Inc., a venture capital–backed business venture that spun out of his research on drug metabolism.

More information here.