Summer Innovations
MedTech at UCSF heats up
Venture Creation is a Team Sport
Scalable Care signs landmark
license agreement with UCSF
From disclosure to launch, Innovation Ventures supports technology
that helps teenagers and young adults manage emotions
and works to build out new applications.
Scalable Care Inc. signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with UCSF to commercialize evidence-based digital mental health therapies that help teenagers and young adults cope with trauma, resolve interpersonal conflicts, and learn self-reflection using conversational AI and behavioral science.

GritX is led by UCSF faculty Bryan King, MD, MBA, and Michael Godoy, and is an example of how UCSF's innovation process works. Starting with the PI completing a 'technology disclosure' form, our Technology Advancement team reviews the material and performs a triage to determine how best to support the discovery on the way to commercialization.

“We’ve spent a long time developing the technology, and a specialist group we’ve helped curate is now set to take the product to market,” said Anthony Francis, the Executive Director of the Office of Technology Management and Advancement at UCSF, who has led the project along with Ben Olsen.
The Process

Michael Godoy encouraged Dr. King to disclose the technology to the UCSF Office of Technology Management and Advancement (OTMA). Going through the disclosure process with our Engagement and Opportunity Development (EOD) team helped identify the market need for scalable healthcare solutions, particularly in mental health. With the advent of digital prescriptions, the team identified both a market and a value proposition. It had also outgrown its place in the Department of Psychology as the commercial interest grew. OTMA worked with the faculty to curate the expertise needed to launch the technology as a NewCo and by directing GritX to early funding from the InVent Fund, the broader platform was built enabling the technology to expand to new markets. OTMA then worked on the license, recruiting a team to license and develop the technology (Allen Billings and John Denning). Currently, the newly formed Equity Group within OTMA is working with the executive team on the business model which will see Scalable Care take off into many new applications to bring the benefits of AI and behavioral therapy to new applications and technology.
Congratulations to everyone involved!
UC Alliance with
Real World Partners
Harnessing the Power of Real-World Evidence
Across UC Campuses
On April 19, Dr. Amy Gryshuk, Associate Director from the UCSF Innovation Ventures, Office of Strategic Alliances traveled to UC Irvine to attend the in-person University of California Health Systemwide conference on “Harnessing the Power of Real-World Evidence (RWE),” presented by the Center for Data-driven Insights and Innovation (CDI2).

The all-day meeting connected research, medical, and industry leaders and innovators providing an in-depth overview of the field with presentations and panel sessions from across the University of California System. Speakers included presenters from UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UCSD, UCSF, and UC Riverside.
Catalyst News


Equilize Award for Women Academic Entrepreneurs and QB3 Defeating Dementia Award
Current Catalyst Awardee Claire Clelland received the Equilize Award for Women Academic Entrepreneurs.

Equalize is a virtual mentor program and pitch competition designed to take national action around the disparity of women academic inventors forming university startups.

And...

Ciznor, which was co-founded by Claire Clelland, is developing novel gene therapies including for ALS and frontotemporal dementia and won the QB3 DEFEATING DEMENTIA award, and QB3’s EARLY-STAGE MENTORING PROGRAM, on winning a $100,000 award to advance their CRISPR therapy for neurodegenerative diseases.
InVent Fund



$1M In Follow-On Funding for InVent Fund and Catalyst Program Recipient
John Chorba, MD, Assistant Professor in Cardiology, received follow-on funding for his InVent project focused on developing small molecule inhibitors of PCSK9 to treat atherosclerosis. 

The follow-on funding was an NHLBI Catalyze award with funding of over $1M (direct costs) that will enable him to move the project from hits to lead identification. 

Dr. Chorba's technology was also chosen to participate in 2019
Catalyst Program.

(Make the flow from Catalyst to InVent fund more story like)
LaunchPad for Students


UCSF Neurology Resident Completes 2023 Blackstone Launchpad Fellowship
This summer, Derrick Cheng, a PGY3 Neurology resident at UCSF, participated in the 2023 Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship to advance his mobile application for stroke recovery. Known as StrokeCompanion, Derrick’s company is a platform designed to bridge the gaps in healthcare by making hospital discharges after stroke more cohesive, more understandable, and safer for patients with limited medical literacy.
 
As part of the fellowship, Derrick participated in eight weeks of skill-development workshops, goal setting, peer and professional mentorship, and dynamic networking. Additionally, Derrick received $5,000 for StrokeCompanion.
 
The goal of the UCSF LaunchPad is to help all UCSF students and trainees succeed by helping them develop an entrepreneurial mindset to address challenges and solve problems. The LaunchPad is open to all students, trainees, and alumni in all fields and regardless of career path, to enable participants to grow their idea, access mentoring, grow their network, and connect with resources to accelerate the success of their business.
Find out more about LaunchPad
Entrepreneurship
UCSF Set To Deal At BIO Investor Forum
The BIO Investor Forum offers opportunities for NewCos and Startups to pitch to heavyweight investors. Innovation Ventures' managing director of Entrepreneurship, Stephanie Marrus, will present a select number of UCSF startups at the Forum when they return to San Francisco on October 17 & 18.
Entrepreneurship Education
Get Ready for the
2023 Fall Cohort
Global Life Sciences/Healthcare Entrepreneurship Course

We are enrolling the 5th cohort of our acclaimed 10-week global online class.

Learn the fundamentals you need to start a medical or science-based venture. The class is led by UCSF's Entrepreneurship Program and features guest lecturers from Silicon Valley.
Technology Advancement
The Engagement and Opportunity Development Team
(EOD) welcomes...

The newest addition to our Entrepreneur in Residence and Executive-in-Residence (EiR/XiR) program. Partha is a medical device/dHealth investor and business executive, with experience working with Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Dexcom.

A global medical device regulatory expert, Robert will consult on regulatory strategy for several NewCo opportunities that Innovation Ventures is developing.
UCSF StartUps in the News