Sandy White to Lead Technology Transfer for UAB Research

Life Science Partner places pharma and business development veteran to champion commercialization at Birmingham’s nationally-acclaimed research center

Life Science Partner announces the placement of William S. “Sandy” White as chief executive officer at the UAB Research Foundation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). White will guide patenting, commercializing and licensing efforts for products and technologies developed by UAB and Southern Research Institute faculty and staff.

The UAB Research Foundation, established in 1987, identifies, assesses, protects, and markets intellectual property developed at the nationally-renowned UAB medical research center and at Southern Research, an affiliated not-for-profit drug discovery and technology development organization.

“Sandy has extraordinary experience in both the commercialization of technology from the pharmaceutical industry and in regional, high-tech development,” says Life Science Partner Founder and President Thomas H. Callaway. “This unique combination of entrepreneurial talents suits him well for the partnering work and economic outreach he’ll be asked to undertake as a champion of the biosciences community in Alabama.”

An accomplished biotech corporate leader and MBA with degrees in pharmacy and biology, White moves to UAB from his role as president and CEO at the Columbus Technology Council. At this non-profit organization that fosters growth in central Ohio’s high technology sector, White oversaw ongoing operations, an organizational merger, and the development and adoption of overall technology commercialization plan including venture capital, incubators, research parks and basic academic research.

As an independent consultant, White provided business development and management consulting services. He also served the University of Georgia’s first Venture Fellow, assisting and promoting the development of early-stage companies at the University.

White also previously served as president, CEO and director at BioCache Pharmaceuticals, an early-stage biotechnology company focused on development and commercialization, as it sought to grow from an academic setting with a basic research approach into a commercially driven entity.

Until shortly after the Monsanto-Pharmacia merger, White was president and business leader for Integrated Protein Technologies, a unit responsible for creating and developing new pharmaceutical-based businesses within the corporation. White held responsibility over the technical and commercial evaluation of business opportunities in the earliest stages of development for this enterprise held up as exemplary in Monsanto’s efforts to advance global healthcare.

While vice president of commercial development and planning for pharmaceutical R&D at the Storz Ophthalmics division of American Home Products Company, White managed development and marketing research for both pharmaceuticals and devices at this $250 million organization.

White was director of business development at a Boehringer Ingelheim subsidiary, Clinical Research Foundation, a clinical research organization for which he developed the initial business plan. At Adria Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company focused primarily on oncology, he served as manager of new business development and licensing. White began his career as a manager of regulatory affairs and, later, new product planning at A.H. Robins.

White holds a bachelor’s in biology from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s in pharmacy from the Medical College of Virginia. He earned an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Life Science Partner’s high-quality executive and scientific recruiting services target the very specific needs of life sciences and healthcare organizations. We identify and recruit the brightest talent in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare services fields.