Maha Krishnamurthy, Ph.D
Maha Krishnamurthy is a licensing associate for the University of Tennessee Research Foundation – Multidisciplinary (Knoxville) Office. She is responsible for intellectual property portfolio management and commercialization of UT’s technologies from plant biotechnology, college of engineering, arts and sciences. Maha’s expertise includes bridging the gap between research and business by evaluating patentable inventions to identify suitable commercial partners, and coordinating a variety of interactions with companies and individuals interested in commercializing UT’s technologies.
Prior to joining UTRF, Maha was an intellectual property commercialization, licensing and maturation consultant with clients such as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; she provided essential support to ensure successful technology commercialization. Before that stint as a consultant, Maha was a postdoctoral research associate with the University of Tennessee and published over twenty top cited peer reviewed papers.
Maha has a doctor of philosophy in physics from Colorado State University, as well as a MBA from the University of Tennessee. Now a United States citizen, Maha was born in Mumbai, India and first came to the U.S. 14 years ago at Colorado State University and Stanford’s Accelerator Center. Prior to coming to the U.S. Maha received a master’s degree in laser and plasma physics from University of Mumbai, India.
Outside of work, Maha enjoys reading, hiking and travelling, and she is fluent in four languages.
Maha is married to Dr. Stefan Spanier, and together they have two children, Ishani Maria (age 9) and Avani Maya (age 4).
Janet Ralbovsky, Ph.D.
Janet is part of the UT Health Science Center (UTHSC) team and is responsible for licensing University technology. She enjoys working with the faculty, students and staff at UTHSC and is impressed with the wide range of inventions coming out of the Health Science Center.
“It is rewarding to assist the inventors in the patenting and commercializing of their technologies. I get caught up in their enthusiasm, and I am learning so much from them,” she says.
Prior to joining UTRF, Janet worked in drug discovery as a medicinal chemist and project leader at a small pharmaceutical company in Connecticut, Cara Therapeutics, focusing on new therapies for pain. Before that, she was a medicinal chemist working in the research areas of oncology and enterology at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development.
Janet holds a B.A. in chemistry from Smith College, a M.S. in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University. She is a registered patent agent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Janet grew up in upstate New York and moved to Memphis two years ago. So far she is enjoying living along the Mississippi River. In her free time she enjoys playing golf, attending local theater products and going to the Memphis farmer’s markets – which she says, have the best peaches and blueberries she’s ever eaten.