Staff

Dan-Oscar Antson joined UCLA TDG in April 2023. In his role as Business Development Officer, Dan is involved in the patenting, marketing, and licensing of UCLA’s Life Science Technology portfolio, especially focusing on dentistry, oncology, and gene therapy. Prior to joining UCLA, Dan was a Technology Licensing Officer for eight years at Cornell University, managing a diverse IP portfolio of small molecules and biologics assets, mainly in the cancer and infectious disease space. Before that, Dan’s first foray into technology transfer was at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, where he worked as an Intellectual Property Manager for ten years, managing a large immuno-oncology patent portfolio. Dan earned a Ph.D. in Medical Genetics, as well as a Master of Science in Chemistry from Uppsala University in Sweden.

Ed Beres joined UCLA TDG in November 2017 and brings a background in both industry and university technology commercialization to UCLA. He came to UCLA from the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), where he identified promising start-up companies for the incubator’s portfolio, coached start-up founders, and developed entrepreneurship training programs. Before that, he was with USC for 13 years, working to move USC research into commercial use.His experience also includes a role as market strategy manager for HBT, a start-up company in the hydrogen fuel cell industry, and a position with Southern California Edison, where he helped identify and evaluate new business opportunities for the electric utility during California’s transition from its traditional regulatory structure. His early career included engineering positions in Boeing’s commercial airplane division, and an engineering consulting firm now known as Exponent Inc., that specializes in failure analysis. Ed received a BS from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an MS from Stanford University, both in mechanical engineering.

Joel Kehle joined UCLA TDG in August 2017. In his role as Technology Transfer Officer, Joel manages a portfolio of database, algorithm, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, and other types of computer science technologies. He has over 20 years of industry experience in information technology and software development. Joel spent over 10 years at Qualcomm focused on cloud computing, enterprise architecture, infrastructure automation, and middleware software. Additionally, he served as Vice President, Technology for multiple startup companies incubated at Idealab in Los Angeles. Joel earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Thibault joined UCLA TDG in August 2023. In his role as Business Development Officer, he is involved in the patenting, marketing, and licensing of UCLA’s Life Science Technology portfolio, focusing on Infectious diseases.

Thibault previously worked for the French Trade Agency in Boston, Business France. He was responsible for business development operations for French biotech startups, and for co-organizing the prestigious Prix Galien USA - an award regarded by many as equivalent to the Nobel Prize in BioPharmaceutical research. 

Thibault has been involved in the selection process of several acceleration programs for life science startups including MassBio Drive, the acceleration program of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and NETVA (New Technology Venture Accelerator), an acceleration program leaded by the French Embassy in the United States.

Before moving overseas, he worked as a Senior Consultant in Innovation Strategy for Alcimed in Paris, France.

Thibault graduated from Chimie ParisTech – PSL University in Paris, France in 2019.

Earl Weinstein joined UCLA TDG in 2005 and is currently Associate Director of Licensing. In this role he works closely with faculty, staff and students to evaluate, protect and commercialize University inventions, and assists with the formation of UCLA startups. Prior to joining UCLA, Earl was with PureTech Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm in Boston. Earl completed a Ph.D. at MIT working on computational and experimental analysis gene regulatory networks and his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

David Riccardo serves as the Business Development Associate, Engineering and Physical Sciences. David joined UCLA TDG in August 2021, bringing four years of industry-side business development experience in technology transfer, contract management and financial negotiation. Prior to TDG, David spent three years as a Licensing Associate at BioLegend, Inc. in San Diego. Prior to BioLegend, David worked at Tioga Research, a contract research organization focused on skin-applied formulations and transdermal drug delivery, and volunteered at IXL Center, a management consulting firm. David holds a B.S. in Human Biology and a Minor in Business from the University of California, San Diego.

Sherrie Dennehy joined UCLA in 2022. As an Industry Sponsored Research and Material Transfer Officer, Sherrie works closely with faculty and industry counterparts to secure industry research funding contracts and material transfer agreements. Prior to UCLA, Sherrie spent seven years at the University of Southern California as the Principal Contract and Grant Officer managing the team responsible for all out-going research subcontracts. Sherrie has also worked at UC Irvine and the University of Central Florida and has over 13 years of experience managing research contracts and grants. Sherrie has a Masters in the Study of Law from the USC Gould School of Law, an M.B.A. from the University of Central Florida, and a B.A. in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara

Mimi Ojukwu joined UCLA in 2023. As an Industry Sponsored Research and Material Transfer Officer, Mimi works closely with faculty and industry counterparts to negotiate and execute industry research funding agreements as well as material transfer agreements. Prior to joining UCLA, Mimi worked at United Healthcare, DaVita Healthcare Partners, Abbot Medical Optics and most recently, Masimo Corporation.  Mimi holds an L.L.B. from the University of Buckingham, UK and a B.L. from Victoria Island, Nigeria.  

The TDG complete list of Department Assignments may be viewed here.

Ruzanna joined UCLA TDG in 2021. As an Industry Research and Material Transfer Associate, Ruzanna assists TDG’s ISR Team with drafting, negotiating, and executing material transfer and research agreements. Prior to her role at UCLA, Ruzanna worked in Worker’s Compensation and Real Estate law.  Ruzanna received her law degree in 2016 from Southwestern Law School and her B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Northridge.

Harry joined TDG as an associate with the Industry Sponsored Research and Materials Transfer in 2021. Originally from Orlando Florida and a Los Angeles resident since 2019, Harry has a decade of paralegal experience in a wide variety of areas specializing in domestic, civil, probate, and criminal law. Additionally Harry was a contributing writer for multiple local news outlets in the central Florida area. Harry received his B.A. from the University of Central Florida in 2011.

Iris Heredia joined TDG in November 2014 as an Industry Sponsored Research and Material Transfer Coordinator.  In her role as ISR-MTA Coordinator, Iris reviews material transfer requests and manages intake duties for sponsored research matters. Every month, Iris collaborates with faculty and staff to prepare and submit Conflict of Interest cases. She also runs audit reports to check data entry accuracy and solves any pending issues. Prior to UCLA, Iris was a Marketing Intern at Intercollegiate Athletics Department and a Writing Tutor at University of California, Santa Barbara. Iris holds a B.A. in Political Science and Global Studies from UCSB.

Matthew Savary joined the UCLA TDG in 2019 and serves as Principal of New Ventures and the UCLA Innovation Fund. Dr. Savary manages the MedTech vertical of the UCLA Innovation Fund, and is responsible for evaluating early-stage medical device technologies, working closely with UCLA inventors and external advisors to de-risk promising assets, and attracting industry partners, entrepreneurs, and investors to continue development through a license to an established or newly created company. Matthew joined the TDG from Medtronic in Boulder, CO, where he was Director of Medical Affairs for four years.  Prior to that he was a Surgical Resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.   Matthew has a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Steven Institute of Technology, and a Doctor of Medicine degree from Tufts University School of Medicine.

Sofia Ramos joined UCLA TDG in September 2021 as Startup Support Associate of UCLA New Ventures. In her role, she works closely with university startups, providing continued support through the UCLA Startup in a Box (SIAB) program, connecting all UCLA-related startups to service providers including corporate law firms, banks, human resources, and tax and accounting services. Prior to joining TDG, Sofia was an analyst at an impact fund dedicated to investing and uplifting minority entrepreneurs and is an active member of UCLA Anderson’s School of Management Riordan Programs. Sofia holds a B.A. in Political Science, and a minor in IMS from the University of California, Los Angeles and the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Stella joined UCLA TDG in July 2023. She is currently a third-year undergraduate majoring in Computational & Systems Biology and prospectively minoring in Statistics at UCLA. In her role as Patent Prosecution & Compliance Assistant, Stella acts as an intermediary between UCLA and patent attorneys, assisting with invention disclosure, patent application, and federal funding matters. She is also a research assistant at the Yang Engineering Immunity Lab, where she applies computational techniques to aid the development of cancer immunotherapies, and a learning intern for the undergraduate Statistics 20 course at UCLA. Stella is expected to graduate in 2025 and is interested in pursuing a career in patent law. 

Kristen Robertson joined UCLA TDG in 2015. As senior financial analyst, Kristen works closely with the CFO to monitor the overall finances of OIP-ISR’s portfolio, including royalty and patent distribution, campus revenue allocations, the annual budget, and operational expenses and forecasts. Kristen graduated with a degree in Economics in 2009 from Pepperdine University and has spent her career thus far focusing on financial management, process improvement, and data analysis. She has held various high-level roles in the Aerospace/Defense and the commercial sectors, primarily in the areas of finance and strategy.

As the Operations & Human Resources Analyst, Jessica is responsible for human resources and payroll processing, travel and entertainment reimbursements, purchasing, building operations, and other operational duties. She has a B.S. in Business Administration with a Human Resources concentration from UC Riverside.  Jessica brings with her 4 years of UCLA experience from her time serving as the Administrative Manager at UCLA Anderson Parker Career Management Center and as an Administrative Specialist at UCLA Facilities Management. Prior to UCLA, she worked for 4 years as the Field Human Resources Assistant for Panda Restaurant Group. 

Abril Morales is a 4th year PhD candidate in the molecular biology interdepartmental program. Her thesis work in Dr. William Lowry’s lab seeks to understand the mitochondrial and metabolomic disturbances of monogenic intellectual disability disorders using stem cell- derived models.  Prior to this, her other research experiences include investigating cell cycle regulated proteins using biochemical methods and antibiotic drug discovery from plant microbiomes. As a TDG New Ventures Fellow, she works closely with faculty to develop and enhance their pitch of novel therapeutics