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.
Dan-Oscar Antson, PhD
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.
Peijean (PJ) Ward, MBA
Peijean (PJ) Ward serves as the Business Development Associate, Life Sciences. PJ joined UCLA TDG in October 2022. She brings more than 13 years of technology transfer experience in the world of academia across Business Development and Marketing functions.
Nick Traitler, MSc, PhD
Nick Traitler joined UCLA TDG in March 2022, bringing a background in intellectual property management, business consulting, and technology commercialization to his role. Nick manages a portfolio of electrical engineering and computer science technologies. Prior to joining UCLA, Nick was a Senior Licensing Associate at USC.
John Lambert
David Riccardo
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.
Megha Patel, JD, PhD
Megha joined UCLA TDG in December 2018 and manages a Medtech portfolio. She was previously a Senior Licensing Officer at UC Irvine after which she joined the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as an Attorney and Assistant General Counsel for Global Health. She was then Assistant VP for Research and Economic Development at Cal State University. Megha has a B.S. in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine, a Ph.D. in Physiological Sciences and Genetics from UCLA, and a J.D. from Maurer School of Law, Indiana University.
Joel Kehle
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.
Ed Beres, PE
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.
Tariq Arif, J.D., MBA, MSc.
In his role as Business Development Officer, Tariq is currently involved in the marketing, patenting, and licensing of UCLA’s Life Science Technology portfolio, spanning immuno-oncology, immunology, and regenerative medicine. Tariq is currently managing UCLA’s alliance with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI).
