Vanderbilt honors 2025 Master Innovators who drive breakthrough research and commercial impact

Five exceptional Vanderbilt faculty members have been named 2025 Master Innovators for their extraordinary contributions to translating research into commercial applications that have significant societal impact.

The 2025 honorees represent diverse fields from infectious disease therapeutics to neuroscience drug discovery and biomedical engineering.

"We are honored to induct these Master Innovators into Vanderbilt's Innovators' Hall of Fame," said Bob Webster, senior associate provost for commercialization and technology transfer. "They are renowned worldwide for not only spectacular singular successes, but also for sustained long-term impact in turning Vanderbilt research into products that prevent injuries and improve lives. These scholar-innovators inspire all of us at Vanderbilt to pursue our innovative research all the way from initial insight to world-changing outcomes."

These are the members of this year's class of Vanderbilt Master Innovators:

• Robert Carnahan: Antibodies for infectious diseases

Associate Director, Vanderbilt Center for Antibody Therapeutics; Professor of Pediatrics and Radiology

Carnahan is a translational scientist and antibody engineer who specializes in rapid therapeutic development for emerging infectious diseases. As associate director of the Vanderbilt Center for Antibody Therapeutics, he has led pivotal efforts to advance antibody candidates for Zika, Marburg, hantavirus and SARS-CoV-2 in collaboration with partners including the Department of Defense and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

His work with James Crowe (recognized as Vanderbilt Master Innovator in 2022) achieved remarkable commercial success through a licensing deal with AstraZeneca that led to EvusheldTM, an antibody combination that protects against COVID-19 in immunocompromised individuals, generating more than $100M in revenue. Carnahan's innovation portfolio includes 17 invention disclosures, seven issued patents, and 21 licensing transactions. He also served as a CTTC Innovation Ambassador.

• Darren Engers: Drugs to treat central nervous system disorders

Research Assistant Professor; Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry, Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery

Engers is an outstanding innovator in central nervous system drug discovery who serves as group leader for multiple programs within the Warren Center, including M1 PAM, M4 PAM and various ion channels. His leadership has directly contributed to major licensing transactions and clinical trials with pharmaceutical companies including Neumora, Acadia Pharmaceuticals and Ono Pharmaceutical Co.

As senior director of medicinal chemistry and a Warren Director Fellow, Engers supervises and mentors more than 30 medicinal chemists while maintaining an impressive innovation portfolio: 91 invention disclosures, 42 issued patents, 23 licensing transactions and tens of millions in revenue to date.

• Karl Zelik: Assistive technology for workplace safety

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Zelik's groundbreaking work in biomechanics and wearable assistive technology has revolutionized workplace safety through the development of back-assist exosuits. After joining Vanderbilt in 2014, he helped found the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology and spent years developing pioneering technology that led to the HeroWear Apex exosuit.

Since the commercial launch in 2020 of HeroWear, the startup Zelik co-founded, the company has achieved remarkable market penetration, with exosuits now deployed in more than 30 countries to reduce workplace injuries. Zelik's innovation portfolio includes 34 invention disclosures, four issued patents and seven licensing transactions.

• John Wikswo: Systems biology breakthroughs

University Distinguished Professor of Physics, Biomedical Engineering, and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics; A.B. Learned Professor of Living State Physics; Founding Director, Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education

A distinguished inventor, Wikswo's innovation portfolio consists of 76 invention disclosures and 47 issued patents, with licenses to companies including Kiyatec Inc. and CN Bio Innovations, a biotechnology company based in the U.K. He has received two R&D 100 Awards: in 1984 (then the IR-100 Award) for the Neuromagnetic Current Probe and in 2017 for the MultiWell MicroFormulator. 

Wikswo is in the process of founding a new startup, Regemus Technologies, to license and commercialize a portfolio of technologies directed to creating automated microfluidic perfusion systems to optimize biomanufacturing or infer the dynamics of signaling and metabolism of living systems.

In addition, Wikswo established the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education in 2001 to foster interdisciplinary research across biophysical sciences, bioengineering and medicine. VIIBRE has mentored more than 350 undergraduate researchers.

• Kayla J. Temple: Central nervous system therapeutics

Senior Drug Discovery Scientist, Assistant Director of Medicinal Chemistry, Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery

Temple joined Vanderbilt's drug discovery team in 2016 after completing postdoctoral training under Craig Lindsley. Her research focuses on medicinal chemistry and drug discovery for central nervous system disorders, particularly allosteric modulators for muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and metabotropic glutamate receptors.

Temple's innovation portfolio includes 35 invention disclosures, 11 issued patents and 11 licensing transactions that have generated more than $10 million in revenue to date. Her work exemplifies the breakthrough science driving Vanderbilt's leadership in central nervous system therapeutics.

"Master Innovators are recognized for their many years of engagement in innovation and entrepreneurship at Vanderbilt," said Alan Bentley, associate vice chancellor for technology transfer. "An episodic commercial outcome is great, but Master Innovators have produced outcomes from multiple projects over a prolonged period of time."

Congratulations to these exceptional researchers whose innovations have generated significant intellectual property and commercial impact.

About the Program

Established in 2023, the Master Innovator Recognition Program honors Vanderbilt faculty who have demonstrated exceptional commercialization success through patenting, licensing, and collaboration with industry partners.

Learn more about this annual recognition program and view previous honorees.