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2018 Featured Talks » Welcome Remarks



Welcome Remarks


Ida Deichaite, PhD
Symposium Organizer, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center

Pradeep Khosla, PhD
Chancellor, UC San Diego






Ida Deichaite, PhD
Symposium Organizer
Director, Industry Relations
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center


Dr. Ida Deichaite oversees the translational aspects of oncology at MCC, turning innovation into commercial applications. Her work with industry on behalf of MCC conferred competitive advantages to a CIRM Disease Team grant, securing $20 million in funding for an early stage biologic development leading to a clinical trial. This resulted in IND for a first in class biologic drug agent targeting cancer stem cells. Her successful partnering with pharma includes overseeing strategy and execution of translational collaborations between academia and industry, pre-clinical and clinical, in-licensing, and due diligence.

She works closely with the CIRM Alpha Clinic at UC San Diego and the Division of Regenerative Medicine securing industry collaborations. She also organizes the MCC annual “Industry/Academia Translational Oncology Symposium”, which has resulted in numerous collaborations. Previously, Dr. Deichaite was Associate Director of Business Development for Avanir Pharmaceuticals. During her tenure, she established a technology evaluation program for in-licensing compounds. She has co-founded several drug development start-ups.

She is a member of the UCSD Innovation Advisory Board and Section Editor of Science Policy and Industry/Academia Interface of the Journal of Translational Medicine. Dr. Deichaite is widely published in numerous scientific journals. Dr. Deichaite received her Ph.D. from Princeton University, Masters degree from the Weismann Institute, and BA from Hebrew University.




Pradeep Khosla, PhD
Chancellor
University of California San Diego


Pradeep K. Khosla became UC San Diego’s eighth Chancellor on August 1, 2012. As UC San Diego’s chief executive officer, he leads a campus with more than 35,000 students, six undergraduate colleges, five academic divisions, and five graduate and professional schools. UC San Diego is also home to the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the UC San Diego Health System. With annual revenues of $4.3 billion in fiscal year 2016, UC San Diego is an academic and research powerhouse, with faculty, researchers and staff attracting more than $1 billion in research funding a year. The campus is the third largest employer in San Diego County and one of 10 campuses in the world-renowned University of California system.

Khosla initiated and led UC San Diego’s first-ever Strategic Plan, and recently launched the public phase of the Campaign for UC San Diego—an ambitious and bold $2 billion endeavor—aimed at transforming the university, physically and intellectually. Khosla has expanded college access and affordability for underserved populations, initiated interdisciplinary research initiatives to foster collaboration and solve societal challenges, and strengthened university and community relationships and partnerships.

An internationally renowned electrical and computer engineer, Khosla previously served as Dean of the College of Engineering and Philip and Marsha Dowd University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He spent the majority of his career at Carnegie Mellon, rising through the ranks from his first position as Assistant Professor in 1986 to his appointment as Dean in 2004. From 1994 to 1996, he also served as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Program Manager in the Software and Intelligent Systems Technology Office, Defense Sciences Office and Tactical Technology Office, where he managed advanced research and development programs.

Khosla is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and the American Society for Engineering Education. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Association for Advancement of Science, the American Association of Artificial Intelligence and the Indian Academy of Engineering. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Science. Khosla is also the recipient of numerous awards for his leadership, teaching, and research, including the 2012 Light of India Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the George Westinghouse Award for contributions to improve engineering teaching. In 2012, he was named as one of the 50 most influential Indian-Americans by SiliconIndia.

Khosla received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur in 1980, and his MS and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering in 1984 and 1986 at Carnegie Mellon. In 2014, he received an honorary doctorate of science from the Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur.