Eric Tomlinson is head of Wake Forest Innovations, the commercialization arm ofWake Forest Baptist Medical Center (WFBMC), an academic medical center with 13,000 employees and an annual revenue of ~$3 billion that is based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was appointed in July 2012 as Chief Innovation Officer for WFBMCand also as President, Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. He reports to the Chief Executive Officer of WFBMC where he is a member of the CEO Council.
Chief Innovation Officer, WFBMC
As Chief Innovation Officer, Eric Tomlinson is responsible for accelerating the development and commercialization of the ideas, discoveries, inventions and specialized preclinical and clinical research capabilities of its employees including its 1,400 faculty. Proprietary technologies in development include: digital health products, medical devices, advanced nanomaterials, drugs, vaccines, regenerative medicine and diagnostics. Specialized services include those provided by faculty and staff in eleven core laboratory service centers.
As Chief Innovation Officer, Eric Tomlinson has established programs in product ideation and technical development. He has both equipped the institute with an economic development team that has secured numerous product licensing agreements with industry, been responsible for creating several well-funded start-ups in the life sciences, and led the creation of a $15 million seed-stage fund with a leading venture capital firm to invest in novel technologies derived from the medical center.
President, Innovation Quarter
Dr. Tomlinson also is President of Wake Forest Innovation Quarterin Winston-Salem, NC,an urbanhub for innovation in research, business and education focused on bioscience, information technology, advanced materials and clinical support services.
Since his appointment, the Innovation Quarter hasbeen amongst the fastest growing districts for innovation in the United States. By September 2017, it had become aworkplace for over3,600 professionals in more than 150 companies in information technology, biomedicine, clinical services, advanced materials and service businesses and five institutions of higher learning that annually educate more than 11,000 students in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.
The 330+ acres of the Innovation Quarter also accommodateapproximately 1,000people living in condominiums, lofts and apartments and numerous retail businesses.The cost of developing the Innovation Quarter through 2017 will be approximately $800 million in investment in the form of public-private partnerships.
Other
Eric Tomlinson has prior experience in a global pharmaceutical company and clinical-stage biotechnology companies. As chief executive officer, hehas built companies engaged in development of biological and small drug / delivery device combination products and gene therapy products. He has transacted mergers of publicly traded companies and raised both private and public equity financings in addition to broad-based product licensing and commercialization agreements with major companies.
Dr. Tomlinson has held academic appointments in the U.S. and in Europe, including at the University of Amsterdam as professor in the department of pharmacy. He is (co)-author of more than 230 research publications in the life sciences and the pharmaceutical sciences (thermodynamics, drug design, site-specific drug delivery and gene therapy).
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