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Kimberly Muller is the Executive Director of CU Innovations where she leads innovation for the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Kimberly’s business development responsibilities include investing, company creation, innovation management, forming key strategic industry partnerships, and licensing. Large-scale industry collaborations have been established in areas such as AI and drug development. She also manages several investment funds, including a $10 million innovation grant fund, a $50 million early-stage venture fund, a $75 million follow-on fund, and partners with UCHealth on a $100 million growth stage fund.

Kimberly joined the University of Colorado from Yale University where she was formerly the Deputy Director of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI), and managed New Ventures in the Office of Cooperative Research. During Kimberly’s tenure, Yale’s Office of Cooperative Research started more than 70 new ventures that have raised over $5 billion in investor capital.

Previously, Kimberly started and sold companies in the biotech, tech, and clean energy fields, companies included Curagen Corporation (acquired by Celldex Therapeutics), 454 Life Science (acquired by Roche), and Arbor Fuel, a biofuel company that utilized recombinant microorganisms for the production of ethanol and butanol. Kimberly began her career in New York as a patent attorney for Chadbourne and Parke, LLP.

Kimberly has a graduate degree in Genetics and received her law degree with highest honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Mary Tapolsky is the Director of Licensing at CU Innovations where she leads the team in bringing innovations to patients through evaluation of new technologies for commercial potential, management of patent prosecution efforts and license negotiations.

Mary has over a decade of experience in technology transfer and twenty years of experience in validating the commercial potential of new innovations, validating the viability of product development, and training inventors to de-risk commercial development.

Prior to joining CU Innovations, Mary worked for the University of Louisville in several capacities, including teaching entrepreneurship at the undergraduate and graduate levels and development and management of a spectrum of programs designed to support startups at the university and in the community, including a very successful ten-week program based on the Lean LaunchPad methodology to help entrepreneurs de-risk launching a business.

Mary launched her career in technology transfer at the University of Colorado’s Boulder office and launched her professional career in research and development with experience in both academic and biotech startup environments. She has a doctorate in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is Lean LaunchPad certified, and received the 2017 [GLI] EnterpriseCorp Award for outstanding leadership in the Louisville, KY entrepreneurial community.

Doreen joined CU Innovations in May of 2017 as a licensing associate. Doreen specializes in the marketing and licensing of innovative, high-impact technologies in order to transition them from the lab bench to the commercial market. Prior to joining the CU Innovations team, Doreen was a licensing coordinator at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where she focused on the active marketing of technologies and management of NREL’s diverse software portfolio. Doreen has also previously worked as a research assistant at the University of Colorado in the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology as well as a teacher of high school biology.

Doreen holds a Master of Science from the Colorado School of Mines in Applied Chemistry and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado in Biochemistry.

Aaron Troemner is a Colorado native, who graduated from CSU in 2018 with a Bachelors in Chemical and Biological Engineering. He spent the first year post graduation working for an Industrial Hemp Processing Startup doing Process Engineering. The next four years he spent working in Biopharma, both in GMP Manufacturing and Fermentation Process Development.

Mike leads the business development and licensing teams for the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Mike’s responsibilities include the formation and management of strategic industry partnerships, and the development of long-term growth strategies for CUI. He joined CUI with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, spanning functions such as business development, marketing, sales, market research, IT systems and finance.

Prior to CU Innovations, Mike was at Genentech for 11 years where he led sales and marketing teams, driving the adoption of precision medicines and immunotherapies in oncology. Prior to Genentech, he held roles across start-up companies and large companies alike, touching a variety of therapeutic areas in pharmaceutical, medical devices and telehealth industries.

Mike holds a BS in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from Duke University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Maxine is a Licensing Manager at CU Innovations, having joined in 2023. Prior to joining the CU Innovations team, she worked as an Intellectual Property Manager and Patent Analyst for a small Biotech Start-up company in Chicago. In 2022, she made to move to academic Technology Transfer and started working at Northwestern University’s Innovation and New Ventures Office where she was an Invention Associate. The portfolio she managed was focused on therapeutics, medical devices and medicinal chemistry.

Maxine has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Ancient Mediterranean Studies from Emory University, where she played Varsity Softball. Additionally, she has a Masters of Engineering in Biotechnology from Northwestern University.

Tom Utley is an Assistant Director of Licensing at CU Innovations where he helps the team commercialize innovations by evaluating commercial potential, initiating IP protection, marketing and license negotiations.

Tom has over a decade of experience in technology transfer having started his career at Vanderbilt University where his portfolio was primarily small molecule therapeutics and health care IT innovations. Additionally he took on many other roles to advance innovation at Vanderbilt, from alliance management to scouting and negotiating several small and large scale collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and venture capital. Prior to joining the technology transfer office, Tom was a part of the drug discovery scientific teams on similar pharma collaborations.

Tom holds a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Vanderbilt University, and an MBA and MFin from the Kelley School of Business at the University of Indiana. Tom is also a registered Patent Agent and a Certified Licensing Professional.

Emma joined CU Innovations in September of 2022 as an Assistant Office Administrator and was promoted to Operations Project Manager in June of 2023. She provides operational and administrative support to the CU Innovations team, assisting with internal process development and increased marketing and communications capacity. She coordinates special projects and events, including the recent Stories of Women-Led Innovation, and manages CU Innovations’ social media platforms. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science.

Gali joined the University of Colorado CU Innovations office in February 2016 and serves as the "operational octopus" behind the $125M CU Healthcare Innovation Funds and numerous grant funding programs. His work spans the intersection of internal venture development and external innovation partnership opportunities with our healthcare system partners. He also engages in new venture development of high potential university technologies and spin-outs that have collectively raised over $155M in institutional capital.

Previously, Gali was an innovation fellow at Northwestern University's Innovation and New Ventures Office where he invented technology for monitoring and tracking dermatological diseases. He was also the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Sintact Medical Systems. He was also Assistant Director of Venture Capital Analytics with the Rockies Venture Club where he helped in create due diligence reports for angel investors in the RVC network.

Gali has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, a Bachelors in Materials Science Engineering from Cornell University, and a certificate in Management for Engineers and Scientists from the Kellogg School of Management.

Gabe provides due diligence analysis for internal and external innovation partnership opportunities. Additionally, he works as an Analyst with the CU Healthcare Innovation Fund.

Claire joined CU Innovations in October 2020 as the SPARK Program Manager. In this role, she administers the vision, strategy, and goals of the SPARK|REACH Program.

Claire has been with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus since 2018. Prior to joining CU Anschutz, she managed funding and entrepreneurship programs in Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish government science funding agency. Claire has conducted research on the immune response in neurological disorders and developed a prodromal diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s disease.

Claire has a Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin, a PhD in neuroscience from Innsbruck Medical University, and a certificate in project management from the International Project Management Association.

Amanda Perez is the Director of Finance and Administration (DFA) of CU Innovations at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. In her role as DFA, she is responsible for providing strategic advice to the Executive Director and leadership teams across campus utilizing financial information and operational metrics to encourage growth of medical innovations. In addition, she oversees licensing database management to enhance portfolio growth.

Prior to joining the team, she spent five years managing US fixed services FP&A team at Viasat generating $500M annual EBITDA. Additional previous experience includes over four years at Denver International Airport responsible for strategic planning of $3.5B 5-year capital plan, grant management and supporting a 2-year city wide enterprise resource planning system change.

Her experience includes pricing multi-million-dollar proposals for government and telecom companies in support of new business acquisition and development. Amanda holds a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and Finance from Regis University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Colorado State University.

Don joined the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in December 2016 and has a background in handling both pre- and post-award grant management functions as well as research contract management and oversight. Prior to moving to Colorado, he worked in higher education administration and grant management within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since starting at Anschutz Medical Campus, he has worked both with the PreAward Shared Services team under the Dean's Office within the School of Medicine and as the Research Budget and Grants Manager for the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the Department of Medicine. In his experience, he has assisted PIs from a number of different departments and backgrounds with submitting and managing grant and contracts with a number of foundations and federal agencies including the NIH, DoD, DARPA, NSF, JDRF, and the American Cancer Society.

Don holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) completed in 2021, a Master of Divinity (MDiv) completed in 2015, and a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Language (BSIBL) completed in 2009 through the University of Tulsa.

​Michael joined CU Innovations in 2022. He has a Bachelor of Psychology from Texas Tech University.

In September 2021 ​Angie joined the CU Innovations team, managing marketing and graphic design needs of the department, including social media initiatives. With 20+ years of experience in art direction and advertising for a wide range of industries, including legal, medical and real estate, her strengths lie in communication and conceptualization. Angie strives to incorporate current design trends and develop strategic marketing materials to accurately convey targeted brand messaging. She is thrilled to bring her skills to the CU Innovations team.

Chad manages our innovations database and conducts analysis for the department.

Chad received his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Colorado State University.

As a Project Manager for CU Innovations, Carolyn works to foster collaborations between CU groups and our industry partners, facilitating projects from contract start up through completion. Carolyn previously spent 10 years as Director of Health, Safety, and Environmental Regulatory compliance in Los Angeles in the motion picture industry before moving into epidemiological research at USC Keck School of Medicine, and then clinical research management for CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Carolyn holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Environmental and Occupational Health and later completed a Certificate in Clinical Research Management & Pharmacology when moving into the world of clinical research.

Dallas Martin is an attorney and executive with over forty years of legal and business experience. He heads the university counsel team supporting CU Innovations. His legal career has focused primarily on corporate matters and intellectual property management.

He has a successful track record in senior business leadership roles helping companies of all sizes achieve stability and aggressive growth. Mr. Martin has extensive experience in the legal and contract issues involved in the academic research, financial services, telecommunications, e-commerce, energy and power generation, computer hardware and software, and contract R&D industries.

He has served as in-house counsel and created intellectual property management programs for organizations ranging from high-tech startups to Fortune 500 companies including US West, First Data Corporation and Level 3 Communications. Programs he created have generated over 5,000 patents and over $200 million in deal value.

Mr. Martin holds Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (magna cum laude) and juris doctorate degrees from the University of Kansas and was selected for inclusion in Intellectual Asset Management Magazine’s “IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists.”

Jordan Ross serves as Research Counsel at the University of Colorado Denver │ Anschutz Medical Campus working primarily with the CU Innovations team on protecting the University’s intellectual property. Prior to joining the University Counsel staff, Ms. Ross was a litigator with Messner Reeves in Denver. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Emory University and graduated University of Colorado Law School. She is a member of the Doyle Inn of Court and the Colorado Women’s Bar Association.

Richard joined the Office of University Counsel in 2022 with a primary focus on supporting CU Innovations in the commercialization of innovative technologies. Prior to joining the University Counsel staff, he practiced at Baker McKenzie in Dallas, Texas, where his practice focused on intellectual property and transactional matters.

Richard holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of North Texas. He is licensed to practice law in Texas and Colorado.

Alison joined the University of Colorado in January 2024 as a patent agent, supporting CU Innovations in protecting the University’s intellectual property. Prior to joining the University Counsel staff, Alison was a patent agent for a private practice based in California where she specialized in patent prosecution.

Alison holds Bachelor of Science (magna cum laude) and Master of Science degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. Alison is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Dr. Smith received his bachelor’s degree from Rice University, his MD from University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School, residency training at NY Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, a fellowship in Hematology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and additional fellowship training in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) at Stanford University. Dr. Smith’s has been on faculty at Sloan Kettering and Duke University and then was director of the BMT program at Moffit Cancer Center and then directed the Leukemia/BMT program at the University of British Columbia and chaired the Tumor Group Council for the BC Cancer Agency.

For the last decade he has been the Director of the Blood Disorders and Cell Therapies Center at the University of Colorado (CU) and more recently, Clinical Director of the Innovation Centers at CU and UCHealth. His primary research focus has been on leukemia and leukemia stem cells and most recently he has overseen the development of a precision medicine institute at CU devoted to integrating single cell omics and rich clinical data using cutting edge computational tools to identify new therapeutic targets, companion diagnostics, clinical decision support and clinical trial design.

He has published over 150 clinical and scientific papers, has filed numerous patents, been the recipient of dozens of grants and has held numerous administrative leadership positions. He has been an investigator and PI of multiple clinical and translational clinical trials and has directed clinical trials units for more than 20 years.

Nate is the Data Strategy & Innovations Program Director at CU Innovations, where he has been serving since 2021. With over 15 years of extensive experience in data management, data science, and product operations within the healthcare industry, Nate brings a wealth of knowledge to his role.

Before joining the Institute, Nate held a pivotal leadership position at United Health Group R&D, where he spearheaded data engineering, data architecture, and technical product teams. He played a crucial role in the development of a series of cutting-edge technical platforms aimed at increasing throughput and democratizing data access. Notably, he was instrumental in the creation of Data Factory, which became United Health Group's flagship enterprise data and analytics platform. This platform featured advanced capabilities such as searchable data provenance, lineage, metadata, and a query building tool to write SQL code for the user.

Prior to his tenure at United Health Group, Nate served as a data scientist at Savvysherpa. During this time, he developed strategic research tools and assets that were subsequently implemented by United Health Group. In addition, Nate led the successful migration of on-premises data assets to the cloud, utilizing platforms such as Google Cloud Platform's BigQuery, Azure, and AWS.

Nate holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of North Dakota, further enhancing his analytical prowess and problem-solving abilities. With his extensive background and expertise, Nate continues to drive operational excellence and innovation at the Institute, ensuring the delivery of impactful solutions in the healthcare industry.

Susan L. Moore, PhD, MSPH, is the Associate Director of the mHealth Impact Center and a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health in the Colorado School of Public Health. She is also the Research Program Director for Innovation through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Core Director for the mHealth & Informatics Research Methods Core in the Adult and Child Center for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Her ongoing research interests include consumer health informatics, digital health innovation, clinical decision support, and the use of mobile and digital health technology to deliver patient-centered care, promote health behavior change, and improve health outcomes.