The Blavatnik Family Foundation, headed by global industrialist and philanthropist Len Blavatnik, established the Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale in 2016 with a grant of $10 million, and augmented it in 2018 with a new grant of $15 million. The fund advances entrepreneurship in the life sciences at Yale and expedites the development, application, and commercialization of breakthrough research.
On Friday, September 14, 2018, from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., the Office of Cooperative Research will hold a special session for scientific investigated and other interested people, on how best to prepare proposals for Blavatnik Fund judges and other venture investors. The session will be held at the Hope Memorial Building, 315 Cedar Street, Room 216. Lunch will be served.
Leading the session will be Liam Ratcliffe, MD, PhD, MBA, a Managing Director at New Leaf Venture Partners who concentrates on biopharmaceutical investing.
Liam joined New Leaf in September 2008. Liam previously served as Senior Vice President and Development Head for Pfizer Neuroscience, as well as Worldwide Head of Clinical Research and Development. Additional positions during his 12 years at Pfizer included Vice President of Exploratory Development for the Mid West region (based in Ann Arbor, MI), and Head of Experimental Medicine at Pfizer’s Sandwich, UK Laboratories. As Head of Neurosciences, Liam was responsible for the development of several successful late-stage projects and marketed products, including Lyrica, Chantix and Geodon. In previous roles, he gained extensive experience in early drug development and translational research across multiple therapeutic areas, including inflammation, pain, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases and genito-urinary medicine.
Liam began his career in the pharmaceutical industry in a medical marketing role at Roche in South Africa. He received his M.D. degree and Ph.D. degree in immunology from the University of Cape Town and his M.B.A. degree from the University of Michigan. Liam completed his internal medicine training and fellowship in Immunology at Groote Schuur Hospital and associated teaching hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa.
Liam also serves on various industry panels, including the Leadership Counsel of the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute, the Advisory Council of the Keck Graduate Institute, the Life Sciences Advisory Panel of Frankel Consulting and the Pfizer External Advisory Panel for Ophthalmology, the AstraZeneca External Advisory Panel for Research & Development Strategy and Anti-Infectives.
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- Ann HollmannSenior Administrative Assistant Cooperative Research