Executive Committee

Sheila Grant, PhD, is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research & Strategic Initiatives, MU, Associate Dean of Research, College of Engineering, and Professor in the Department of Biomedical, Biological and Chemical Engineering.

Dr. Grant graduated from Iowa State University with a MS in Biomedical Engineering and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. A former post-doctoral researcher and research engineer for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, her research focuses on utilizing nanostructured materials to design biosensors and tissue engineered materials.

Dr. Grant holds eight U.S. patents, has published over 100 research articles in scientific journals, and founded three start-up companies. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

William Fay, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Medical Pharmacology, and Senior Associate Dean for Research in the MU School of Medicine, where he holds the J.W. and Lois Winifred Stafford Distinguished Chair in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Research. As Senior Associate Dean for Research, Dr. Fay leads physician-researchers and PhD investigators in the development of outstanding research and educational programs in biomedical, clinical and translational sciences.

In addition to Dr. Fay’s clinical duties with MU Health Care and the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, he has served as Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine for 13 years, and is an investigator with the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. Dr. Fay's research interests focus on vascular biology, atherosclerosis, and thrombosis. His lab is currently carrying out studies of novel compounds for the prevention of restenosis and atherosclerosis that are funded by NIH and AHA. He has served on numerous STTR/SBIR study sections and has been a co-investigator on 3 NIH SBIR grants. Dr. Fay currently serves on the editorial board of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, and he is a former member of the AHA National Research Committee and ATVB Council Leadership Committee.

Dr. Fay received his medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Michigan and a clinical and research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Lisa Lorenzen is the Assistant Vice Chancellor of the University of Missouri Technology Advancement Office. She leads university efforts to leverage the commercial potential of faculty research innovations. She oversees the assessment of MU inventions for marketability; the process for securing intellectual property protection, such as patents and copyrights; and the negotiation and execution of license agreements that allow companies to access university-owned innovations.

Lisa has more than 20 years of experience in many aspects of economic development, especially in academic commercialization and industry partnerships. Before joining Mizzou in 2019, she served as both executive director of the Iowa State University Research Foundation and director of the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at Iowa State. Lisa managed industry relations and economic development programs for Iowa State and worked as a computational biologist for Pioneer Hi-Bred International before entering the tech transfer field.

Lisa earned a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in genetics from ISU. Her professional affiliations include the Association of University Technology Managers, Intellectual Property Owners Association and the Licensing Executives Society.

Jaya Ghosh is the Program Director of the Coulter Biomedical Accelerator at the University of Missouri, and the Lead Program Manager of the Midwest Biomedical Accelerator Consortium, a NIH Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH), two training and grants programs proven to accelerate the translation of biomedical innovations from bench to bedside. Jaya is also an Adjunct Faculty of the Trulaske College of Business, and a Program Manager for the BioComX/NIH Concept to Clinic: Commercializing Innovation (C3i) Program.

Most recently, she was the Assistant Program Director of the MU Coulter Biomedical Accelerator. Prior to that she was the BioDesign and Innovation Fellow at the University of Missouri. Jaya holds a BE degree in Instrumentation & Control Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology in India, and a PhD in Bioengineering from MU.