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Lesa Mitchell
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Lesa Mitchell is a vice president with the Kauffman Foundation. She has been responsible for the Foundation’s frontier work in understanding the policy levers that influence the advancement of innovation from universities into the commercial market and the new relationships between disease philanthropy and for profit companies.

Under Mitchell’s leadership, the Foundation is defining and codifying alternative commercialization pathways, and identifying new models to foster innovation. Mitchell was instrumental in the founding of the Kauffman Innovation Network/ iBridge Network, the Translational Medicine Alliance, the National Academies-based University–Industry Partnership and leader in the replication of innovator-based mentor programs across the U.S. In addition, Mitchell serves on the boards of Gazelle Growth in Denmark, the University of Kansas Institute for Commercialization and is an advisor to the Institute for Pediatric Innovation.

Prior to joining Kauffman, Mitchell spent twenty years of her career in global executive roles at Aventis, Quintiles, and Marion Laboratories and ran an electronic clinical trials consulting business in support of global pharmaceutical clients.

Blog Entries by Lesa Mitchell

Startup Craze in Rio

(1) Comments | Posted March 28, 2013 | 10:40 AM

Entrepreneurship is a growing global craze, no doubt about it. Case in point: More than 2,000 people from 130 countries met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week to share stories about the obstacles and opportunities of building startup communities in cities across the globe. These passionate drivers of entrepreneurship...

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Two Big Ones, Off the Shelf

(0) Comments | Posted May 8, 2012 | 6:47 PM

If you're looking for a way to boost economic growth in the U.S., start with some of the country's key assets: great universities, full of people doing excellent research. What could help significantly are new ideas and further efforts in the areas of (a) spotting the research that could have...

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Business Plan Competitions: Where The Ideas Are

(4) Comments | Posted June 6, 2011 | 11:06 AM

It would be an understatement to say that business plan competitions are sweeping the country. They are sweeping every country.

The University of Trinidad and Tobago -- a new university, serving this tiny island nation from a campus still under construction -- already has sponsored its third annual UTT...

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Women Entrepreneurs Are Trapped Within Glass Walls

(47) Comments | Posted May 11, 2011 | 9:10 AM

This much is known: The next round of economic recovery and growth in the U.S. will be led by new companies. The statistical evidence on that point is clear. While big, established firms employ the most people, it's the high-growth startups -- the new firms on their way...

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Speeding Treatments From the Lab to Patients

(5) Comments | Posted September 30, 2010 | 7:30 PM

Last Thursday marked the start of the implementation phase of the new health-care law: children can no longer be denied coverage because of pre-existing health conditions and children also can be covered by their parents' policies until the age of 26. Whatever one thinks of the new law, there's one...

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Clean Energy's Future Hinges on New Business Models

(2) Comments | Posted June 22, 2010 | 2:23 PM

In his first Oval Office speech last week, President Obama said "the time to embrace a clean energy future is now." Indeed, clean energy has untapped potential to drive the economy and create thousands of new jobs throughout the United States. But in order to realize a goal that has...

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We Must Support America's Entrepreneurs

(35) Comments | Posted May 11, 2009 | 10:24 AM

While historians and commentators will analyze President Obama's first 100 days, entrepreneurs will likely remember the administration's 107th day, when a key step was taken to further unleash our country's entrepreneurial potential.

On May 5th, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the creation of a White House Social Innovation Fund, with...

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