Senior Director of Technology Transfer Named

Erik Halvorsen will forge industry partnerships to support research at Tufts

Erik Halvorsen, the executive director of the Boston Children’s Hospital Technology and Innovation Development Office, will join Tufts on Aug. 4 as senior director of technology transfer and industry collaboration in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

Halvorsen had worked at Children’s since 2007. In 2009 he founded and became managing partner of the Children’s Hospital Technology Development Fund, which supports new technologies prior to licensing or commercialization. He has a strong track record of assisting startup companies and serving as a board member and advisor to early-stage companies in drug discovery, clinical diagnostics, health-care information technology and social robotics, said Vice Provost for Research Diane Souvaine in announcing the appointment to the Tufts community.

Halvorsen will work with the Tufts Office for Licensing and Industry Collaboration to identify, evaluate, patent and commercialize Tufts inventions and technologies and will broadly support research, innovation, entrepreneurship and commercial translation of university technologies, Souvaine said. “Our search committee is confident that Erik is the right person to spearhead these efforts and drive the strategic industry alliances needed to support research at Tufts,” she said.

At Children’s Hospital, Halvorsen built a successful technology development office that integrated patents and licensing, business development, marketing, an investment fund and clinical trials. “He helped create broad partnerships with pharmaceutical, diagnostic, device and software companies,” Souvaine said.

Before joining Children’s, Halvorsen was director of business development at the Harvard University Office of Technology Development from 2002 to 2007 and director of business development for the Harvard Stem Cell Institute from 2005 to 2007. He received a B.A. in psychology and a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from the University of Virginia and an M.S. in human anatomy from the Medical College of Virginia.

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