Forsyth dentech wouldn’t be possible without its organizing committee. Led by Carline Durocher, this committee has worked diligently to convene leaders across the oral health innovation ecosystem. The resulting star studded lineup of speakers, startup presenters, and panelists testifies to the excitement around Forsyth dentech and the work that went into making it happen.
Carline M. Durocher is the executive responsible for Forsyth’s legal and compliance functions, including general corporate transactions, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, and risk management.
Dr. Thomas Van Dyke is Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research and Chair of the Department of Applied Oral Sciences. He provides leadership for Forsyth’s clinical research team and is responsible for expanding Forsyth’s clinical presence in the research community. Dr. Van Dyke drives the Institute’s efforts to expand Forsyth’s connections to industry and corporate partners.
Dr. Wenyuan Shi is currently the Chief Executive Officer & Chief Science Officer of the Forsyth Institute, an affiliate of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Prior to this position, Dr. Shi was the chairman and professor of Oral Biology at the UCLA School of Dentistry as well as Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Shi has led multiple NIH grants to use multidisciplinary approaches to study oral microbiome with a specific focus on microbial biofilm, inter-species interaction and signal transduction. In addition, Dr. Shi’s laboratory is actively involved in the development of next generation diagnostic and therapeutic tools against oral microbial infections, including instant chairside detection of oral pathogens and peptide based targeted antimicrobial therapeutics. These translational research efforts have resulted in novel technologies that are licensed and developed by major pharmaceutical, dental and biotech companies. Dr. Shi is also the founding scientist, former chief scientific officer and chairman of the scientific advisory board of C3J Therapeutics Inc. (www.c3-jian.com).
The Focus IP Group provides a variety of consulting services in intellectual property matters, including serving as an Expert Witness in intellectual property disputes, technology scouting, technology transfer and teaching the commercialization of early stage technologies.
For 15 years, Dr. Stevens led Boston University’s Office of Technology Transfer. He then became Special Assistant to the Vice President for Research for two years before retiring from full time employment at BU. For ten years he was a Lecturer in the Strategy and Innovation Department in Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, where he taught two graduate-level, inter-disciplinary courses on Technology Commercialization. Before joining Boston University, he was Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.
During his tenure at Boston University, the Office of Technology Development spun out over 50 companies based on the University’s research, a number of which raised substantial amounts of capital, and the University’s licensing income climbed steadily.
He was a Guest Professor at Osaka University, Japan, where he taught G-TEC, an intensive summer course on technology commercialization, and a Principal Investigator at the National University of Singapore (Suzhou) Research Institute, where he teaches professional development courses on technology management. He has taught in Belgium, 31 countries in both developed and emerging economies
Prior to entering the technology transfer profession, Dr. Stevens worked in the biotechnology industry for nearly ten years. He was a co-founder of Kytogenics, Inc. and Genmap, Inc., and was Vice President of Business Development for BioTechnica International. He started his career with The Procter & Gamble Company, where he held a number of positions in commercial development, sales, marketing, product management, strategic planning and acquisitions and mergers.
Dr. Stevens publishes and lectures frequently on many aspects of technology transfer, including the Bayh-Dole Act, the economic impact of technology transfer and its role in economic development, the contribution of academia to the discovery of new drugs, vaccines and medical devices, the role of technology transfer in global health and technology valuation. He was the recipient of the Bayh-Dole Award at the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) 2007 Annual Meeting and became President of AUTM in March 2010. He is also active in the Licensing Executives Society.
Dr. Stevens holds a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences, a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University. He is a Certified Licensing Professional and a Registered Technology Transfer Professional.
Dr. Jeremy Krell is a general dentist, as well as an experienced investor with a business background. He has raised rounds and generated returns for investors at ten companies, sold three, and acquired two more as a key operator. Jeremy oversaw strategic provider innovation and development at Oscar Health, a health insurance company that had an IPO in 2021. He also led provider and clinical growth initiatives at quip, a subscription oral health company, and has since built the Barchester Bay Group, a portfolio consisting of over thirty separate ventures. Jeremy is an angel investor and sits on the boards of several healthcare and dental startups. He has a fifteen-plus year proven track record with start-ups, multi-million dollar fundraises, and acquisitions.
