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almost 8 years ago

Announcing the addition of Chris Coburn to our panel of judges!

Chris Coburn | Vice President of Innovation, Partners HealthCare

Chris Coburn is Vice President, Innovation, Partners HealthCare. Based in Boston, Partners is largest academic research enterprise in the United States with greater than $1.5 billion in annual research. The Partners HealthCare system consists of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital – ranked #1 and #6 in the nation, respectively, by US News & World Report – as well as McLean Hospital and others. Partners faculty are appointed at Harvard Medical School.

Coburn leads a team of more than 80 tasked with the commercial application of the discoveries and unique capabilities of Partners’ 60,000 employees. His unit’s responsibilities include business development, company creation, licensing, investment, cooperative agreements, and management of all technological breakthroughs of Partners’ staff. 2015 commercialization revenue exceeded $110 million.

Prior to joining Partners, Mr. Coburn founded Cleveland Clinic Innovations and served for 13 years as its Executive Director. During his tenure Cleveland Clinic spun off 57 companies that raised more than $700 million in equity financing. Cleveland Clinic had no technology based spin-offs before Coburn’s arrival. He also implemented a national Innovation Alliance in which Cleveland Clinic managed technology commercialization for healthcare systems throughout the United States.   

Mr.Coburn has served on numerous corporate and community boards including Explorys (acquired by IBM), Autonomic Technologies, and the U.S. Enrichment Corporation (NYSE:USU). He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Assessing the Value of Research in Meeting National Goals. He is a former Vice President and General Manager of Battelle Memorial Institute. He has consulted, testified and spoken on innovation and commercialization throughout North America and in more than 30 countries. He and his wife, Nancy, have three grown children.