UCSD - University of California - San Diego

06/16/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/16/2026 09:09

New MasterClass at Moores Cancer Center Accelerates the Path from Discovery to Impact

Published Date

June 16, 2026

Article Content

This spring at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center (MCC), more than 60 scientists and clinicians completed the inaugural MasterClass in Oncology Bio-Entrepreneurship - a new 10-week program designed to help investigators better understand the commercialization strategies, industry partnerships and innovation pathways that can accelerate promising discoveries toward patients. Jointly offered by MCC and the Office of Innovation & Commercialization (OIC), the MasterClass is UC San Diego's newest effort to build an entrepreneurial culture across campus - one that empowers faculty to translate scientific discoveries into real-world impact, particularly for patients.

Ranked No. 4 in the nation for startup creation, according to a 2022 survey by the Association of University Technology Managers, UC San Diego is a national leader in research and innovation, where new ideas are regularly translated into societal impact. Across the 10 campuses in the University of California system, one in four new invention licenses originate from UC San Diego.

Despite this clear track record of success, there is still untapped potential for innovation among UC San Diego's scientists, according to Paul Roben, PhD, associate vice chancellor for innovation and commercialization.

"We have fantastic science across UC San Diego, but many scientists don't know what's required to turn that science into a commercial product, including those who are also physicians," said Roben. "Many don't even realize how much there is to know, and this fills that gap for researchers working to cure some of our worst diseases."

A first-of-its-kind faculty program

While UC San Diego already offers world-class entrepreneurship programs, such as through the Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, Sullivan Center for Entrepreneurship at Rady, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and various accelerator programs across campus, many of these offerings are designed either for students or for faculty who already have started down the path of creating a company. This leaves a gap for those faculty who may have an amazing idea for a new treatment or medical device, have the science to back it up, but don't yet understand how promising discoveries move through commercialization pathways to ultimately reach patients.

The MasterClass fills that gap, equipping faculty with the entrepreneurial strategies and translational insight needed to engage with San Diego's biotech industry - consistently cited as one of the top biotech hubs in the world - and move their work forward for patients.

Once the initial idea took shape, Roben approached MCC Director Diane Simeone, MD, and the two of them then began to strategize about how to bring such a course to the cancer center.

"While researchers like me work to understand cancer at its most fundamental levels, at the end of the day, the only way to directly influence patient care broadly is by interacting with industry. This course gave us that reality check - not in a discouraging way, but in a very useful way. It helped us better understand what industry needs, what pressures they are under, and how we can work together to ultimately help patients." - Silvio Gutkind

"One of the strengths of being in San Diego is our incredible biotech and biopharma ecosystem," said Simeone. "The question for us was: how do we as a cancer center better integrate with that ecosystem to help our faculty turn discoveries into new diagnostics and treatments for patients?"

Simeone's enthusiasm was echoed by the cancer center's membership. Within days of announcing the new program, MCC had assembled a cohort of interested innovators: clinicians, basic scientists, engineers and trainees. The course quickly grew to 65 participants, including faculty and postdoctoral researchers across UC San Diego schools as well as affiliate MCC members from nearby institutions, representing one of the most diverse academic audiences OIC has engaged to date.

"Clinicians bring real insight into patient needs because they're caring for patients every day, but this also means that they have the least amount of time to focus on gaining business skills," Simeone noted. "Likewise, basic scientists aren't typically taught to think about commercialization early in their research career. This program gives everyone a shared foundation, regardless of previous background or expertise."

Bringing industry expertise to campus

To lead the course, OIC recruited Jay Kranzler - an MD-PhD who left clinical care and academia early in his career to build a decades-long career in pharma, consulting and biotech, including teaching entrepreneurship at universities across the country.

While the new course was based on previous ones Kranzler has taught, he, Simeone, and Roben worked together to carefully tailor the curriculum for the Moores Cancer Center faculty. According to Kranzler, this meant gently nudging scientists - who are used to being highly knowledgeable in their area of expertise - out of their comfort zone.

As part of the final session, participants in the MasterClass enjoyed a networking reception. According to MCC director Diane Simeone, one of the most important outcomes of the MasterClass was facilitating connections between researchers and local biotech leaders. (UC San Diego Health Sciences)

"These participants are already incredibly sophisticated in the science that goes into cancer therapeutics," he said. "But if I let us linger in that comfort zone, they wouldn't learn the other side, so I flip things around to focus on strategy, tactics, competition and the practical realities of fundraising for a company."

The course combined case studies from Harvard Business School, financial modeling exercises, mock negotiations and candid conversations with established industry leaders, such as venture capitalists, intellectual property attorneys, biotech CEOs and strategists. Kranzler used a Socratic approach, relying heavily on dialogue and, occasionally, silence.

"It's challenging," he said. "Some parts are completely foreign to them, and that's the point. This group has been very enthusiastic even when they don't know something. They show up every week, they do the work, and they've taken it more seriously than even some business school cohorts I've taught."

Building business fluency

Silvio Gutkind is professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology at UC San Diego School of Medicine and associate director for basic science at Moores Cancer Center. Photo credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences

For some participants, the course offered a first look into a world they had largely observed from the outside. J. Silvio Gutkind, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology at UC San Diego School of Medicine and associate director for basic science at Moores Cancer Center, said the program was "eye-opening" for a basic scientist whose work has already helped launch multiple clinical trials.

"While researchers like me work to understand cancer at its most fundamental levels, at the end of the day, the only way to directly influence patient care broadly is by interacting with industry," Gutkind said. "This course gave us that reality check - not in a discouraging way, but in a very useful way. It helped us better understand what industry needs, what pressures they are under, and how we can work together to ultimately help patients."

Bassel El-Rayes is deputy director of Moores Cancer Center and a medical oncologist at UC San Diego Health. (UC San Diego Health Sciences)

That perspective also resonated with Bassel El-Rayes, MD, a physician-scientist in the Department of Medicine and medical oncologist who joined UC San Diego in February as deputy director of the cancer center. As a translational researcher, El-Rayes came in with experience in clinical trials and early drug development, but said the course filled important gaps around fundraising, licensing, patents and commercialization models.

"Even if the science is great, industry decisions are not based only on the science, so scientists need to have this knowledge and expertise in order to think through how others will see their work," said El-Rayes. "Understanding the business side helps me interact better with partners and better understand how you ultimately get something to the patient."

Sarah Blair is a professor of surgery and UC San Diego School of Medicine and a breast surgical oncologist at UC San Diego Health. (UC San Diego Health Sciences)

For Sarah Blair, MD, a clinical professor of surgery and UC San Diego School of Medicine and a breast surgical oncologist at UC San Diego Health who has spent years helping develop an ultrasound-visible device designed to help surgeons more precisely find tumors during surgery, the course offered a different kind of practical value. Blair's technology is placed at the time of biopsy and later helps guide tumor removal during surgery, potentially sparing patients an extra procedure before their operation. Blair's company, Viewpoint Medical, was recently acquired by Merit Medical.

Because of Viewpoint Medical, Blair already had firsthand experience with commercialization, FDA approval and startup development. However, she said the program deepened her understanding of some of the more behind-the-scenes aspects of medtech, such as intellectual property law and regulatory strategy. She also emphasized the role that working at UC San Diego has played in bringing her technology to fruition.

"There is just so much science happening here, and so much opportunity," Blair said. "Every time I meet a different group, I can think of new collaborations. It's one of the best places for this kind of innovation."

Building an innovation community

In addition to helping build community and collaboration within the cancer center itself, Simeone notes that several faculty members have already created new partnerships with local biotech leaders they otherwise would never have met.

"We're creating an environment where breakthrough science can move faster and farther," she said. "When clinicians, scientists and industry leaders solve problems together, that's when we get the most meaningful advances for patients."

For Roben, the course is part of an even broader institutional vision. He anticipates running the course again, likely expanding it to departments across the School of Medicine next fall. Over time, he hopes the program will help embed entrepreneurship more deeply across UC San Diego's research culture and give more faculty the confidence to move promising discoveries toward patients.

"We want UC San Diego to be one of the most entrepreneurial campuses in the country," he said. "That means ensuring that anyone - faculty, students, postdocs - can access the knowledge, networks and resources they need."

UCSD - University of California - San Diego published this content on June 16, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on June 16, 2026 at 15:09 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]