Usha Balakrishnan founded CARTHA (www.cartha.org) as a global nonprofit organization in September 2006 by bringing together a team of 6 other volunteer Board members from 4 continents. She engages as easily with academic researchers and scholars as she does with corporate executives, government and foundation officials, nonprofit sector leaders, and the general public. This has enabled her to work with a range of scientists, researchers, writers, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs—several of whom are CARTHA Council of Advisors and Fellows—to give birth to new programs that are formulated by leveraging resources across various sectors. She has shared CARTHA’s vision and programs in various venues with small and large audiences at national and international forums, campus seminars, Rotary Clubs (as well as in grocery-store bump-ins, and with her fellow passengers on airlines and trains). By simply sharing her experiences and struggles and collaborations with so many others, many volunteers have joined in these efforts to bring their own creativity and resources to the creation of vibrant networks of academic-practitioner collaborations that can aspire to make a bigger difference locally, regionally, and globally on societally challenging issues.
Usha’s personal conviction combined with her professional experiences led her to founding a group called Technology Managers for Global Health (www.tmgh.org) in 2003. Her efforts, in partnership with a UK charity, were supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation (2004-2006), the Kauffman Foundation (2006), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2006). Prior to founding CARTHA, Usha worked for the University of Iowa for over 15 years. Her passionate vision and ventures as a university administrator were featured in the University of Iowa President’s Annual Report of 2002. Cultivating and managing a large and diverse patent portfolio, she established key licensing programs at the University of Iowa Research Foundation, negotiated agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and advised small business owners and high-technology entrepreneurs. Directing corporate partnerships and economic development efforts, she gained a keen appreciation for interdisciplinary and non-traditional linkages that can be fostered among various internal and external constituencies at the local to international levels. She conceptualized and successfully launched a series of eclectic initiatives in collaboration with University faculty, staff, and students; and government, nonprofit, and industry officials. In 2003, she was instrumental in the signing of the Iowa-Andhra Pradesh Memorandum of Cooperation in Biotechnology in 2003. She then led efforts to bring together a cross-continental group of social scientists, historians, engineers, biomedical researchers, and corporate, government and academic officials to co-organize the first-ever “Culture of Innovation in Science & Technology in India” (held in 2006 at the University of Hyderabad, and funded by the AstraZeneca Research Foundation and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum). In 2004, she conceptualized and launched the Consider Iowa program for university students to visit Iowa biotechnology companies and be inspired about career prospects in emerging industries.
Usha served as a gubernatorial appointee (2001-2005) on the Iowa Economic Development Board. She served on numerous boards and committees including on the Iowa Biotechnology Association Board, the Iowa Business Council Deputy Committee, the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Technology Corridor Committee, the University President’s Committee on Diversity, and the University of Iowa and State of Iowa Small Business Development Advisory Councils. Usha is a graduate of the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Program and the Iowa Association of Business and Industry’s Leadership Iowa program.
Usha received her MBA from the University of Iowa and her Bachelors of Commerce from Bombay University. She serves on the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. She is a member of the Council on Foundations-Community Foundations Leadership Team. She also serves on the Board of the Community Foundation of Johnson County (Iowa), chairing its Resource Committee. She co-founded the Iowa City Chapter of Café Scientifique, and belongs to the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club. Usha grew up in New Delhi and Mumbai and has lived in the United States since 1985. She is married to Ramji, Professor of Accounting at the University of Iowa. They live in Iowa City, Iowa, and have two children, Vasu, 19 (a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University), and Uma, 13. Usha’s mother tongue is Tamil. She also speaks and writes Hindi and studied Sanskrit, Marathi, and German in her school days. Usha is formally trained in South Indian Carnatic vocal music and volunteers as a Sunday music teacher for young children. In her spare time, Usha walks, meditates, writes poetry, attempts to solve the daily newspaper crossword puzzle, experiments with international cuisines, listens to old Hindi film songs, and watches movies with friends and family.
PUBLICATIONS
Usha Balakrishnan, Lisa Troyer, Edwin Brands, Surveying the need for "Technology Management for Global Health" training programs, Journal of the Association of University Technology Managers, 18 (2006): 53-68.
Reprinted in Industry & Higher Education, 21 (2007): 279-286.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS & WORKSHOPS
2008
Keynote Speaker, CARTHA: Global Entrepreneurship with Iowa Roots, Iowa City Foreign Relations Council’s Luncheon Meeting (Broadcast on UI-Radio and TV), April
Speaker, Intellectual Property in the Marketplace: Contextualization from “Academic” Doings, Institute for Policy Innovation, World IP Day Seminar, Washington DC, April
Seminar Speaker, Collaborative Doers Going Glocal: Promoting Innovations for Positive Social Change, Society for International S&T Policy, George Washington University, April
Speaker, Collaborative Doers in Global Health Technology Transfer Partnerships, Global Health Studies Program annual conference, UI, Iowa City, April
Chair, 5th annual meeting of Technology Managers for Global Health, San Diego, February
Speaker, inaugural “Women in Academic Licensing” forum, New York Univ., February
Organizer & Chair, Humanity at the Nexus: Academic Partnerships and Entrepreneurship in Science and Global Health, at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Boston, February
2007
Speaker, The CARTHA Story, Ethics Conference, DePaul Univ., Chicago, November
Speaker, Academic-Practitioner Partnerships to Advance Global Health Causes, and moderator of panel at Universal Forum of Cultures, Monterrey, Mexico, October
Speaker (w/ Spanish translator), Rotary Club of Obispado, Monterrey, Mexico, October
Speaker, Global Health Technology Transfer is NOT Business as Usual on panel titled Best Practices in Humanitarian Licensing, AUTM 2007, San Francisco, March
Speaker, Academic Innovations and Global Health Impacts, New curriculum/course on pharmaceuticals mgmt for underserved populations, UI College of Pharmacy, February
2006
Moderator, Panel on Technology Transfer: Making a Local and Global Difference , 2nd Annual Conference of the Alliance for Commercialization of Canadian Technologies, Ottawa, November
Speaker, Creativity in Academic Technology Management and Licensing for Global Health, Theory-Practice Seminar on Advancing Vaccines: Innovations in Intellectual Property Practice, Brooklyn Law Institute, New York, October
Presenter, Contrasting inhabitants of distinct cultures: Towards an academic-practitioner dialogue for real world problem-solving &decision-making , Virtual Global Forum "Business as Agent for World Benefit: Mgmt Knowledge Leading Change," Case Western University, October
Speaker at monthly meeting of the IEEE-Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Cedar Rapids Section, Cedar Rapids, October
Speaker, Course on Biomedical Business Development and International Strategic Partnering , National Institutes of Health-Office of Technology Transfer, Washington DC, October
Moderator, Panel on Advocacy and Science: The View from Academia, Topical Meeting of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, Washington DC, September
Keynote Speaker, Global Health Technology Management , Iowa City Noon Rotary Club, July
Organizer & Chair, New Technologies: The Role of the Private Sector, Global Health Council annual conference, Washington DC, June
Speaker, Academic Technology Managers and Global Health Equity: A Rockefeller Foundation Grantee's Perspective, UI International Mondays Lectures, Iowa City Public Library, April
Speaker, Panel on Challenges and Potential Solutions for Distributing Global Health Technologies , Centers for Disease Control-CDC & Biosouth Technology Forum, Atlanta, March
Speaker, Managerial Creativity with Iowa Roots: Making a Difference in Global Health Equity and Technology Transfer, Leadership Iowa session at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City, March
Organizer & Chair, Social Innovations in University Technology Management, Workshop, AUTM 2006, Orlando, March
Organizer & Chair, University Licensing to Global Public-Private Partnerships, Half-day Educational Track Session, AUTM 2006, Orlando, March
Chair, Technology Managers for Global Health , Third Annual AUTM Special Interest Group Meeting, AUTM 2006, Orlando, March
Co-planner of symposium, The Culture of Innovation in Science & Technology in India: Opportunities Seized, Opportunities Lost, and Speaker, Academic Technology Managers as "Cultural Translators," Hyderabad, India, January
2005
Speaker, MIHR & Technology Managers: Mobilizing Univ. Professionals, Advancing Global Health Causes , TT Group-U of California Office of the President, Oakland, November
Organizer, Emerging Structures and Strategies in Global Health Partnerships , Add-on Panel, Licensing Executive Society 2005, Phoenix, October
Speaker, TMGH-MIHR Collaboration: Mobilizing IP managers, Promoting Global Health Equity, Gordon Research Conference, Oxford, United Kingdom, September
Speaker, A Journey of Discoveries , Program Luncheon, The Rockefeller Foundation, New York City, May
Session Chair, Innovative Approaches in Technology Transfer for Global Health, BIO 2005, Philadelphia, June
Organizer, "Community Economics Day" for the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Program, May, Iowa City
Speaker, University IP, Licensing and Interdisciplinarity: Weaving Global Health Equity into an Evolving Managerial "Craft" for Public Good, Intellectual Property: An Interdisciplinary Conversation, UI Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry, February
Organizer and Chair, Strategies to Seek Financial Support for Diversity Initiatives-Part II, UI Committee on Diversity Workshop, February
Organizer and Chair, Mission Creep or Good Neighbors: Understanding the Strategic Boundaries for University Interface Functions in Technology Transfer, Outreach, Economic and Social Development, AUTM 2005, Phoenix, February
2004
Speaker, Universities, Technology Transfer and Global Health Equity , UI Global Health Studies Program Seminar, December
Organizer, Perspectives on the Impact of Science on Global Health and Humanitarianism, UI Symposium with keynote speaker Dr. Monty Jones, World Food Prize co-winner, October
Chair, Redefining the Social Quotient in Academic Technology Transfer through Social Entrepreneurship , AUTM Executive Forum, Idaho, October
Speaker, Health Product Development Partnerships: A US University Perspective, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India, July
Session Facilitator, MIHR Symposium on Using Intellectual Property Management for Improved Health in Developing Countries: An Evidence-Based Approach to Good Practice, Bellagio Rockefeller Study Center, Italy, June
Organizer, The University's Role in Global Health Partnerships: Building Bridges between TT and International Development Professionals , AUTM 2004, San Antonio, March
2003
Moderator, Increasing Awareness and Building Support for Global Health Initiatives , National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center Discussion on The Role of the University in Promoting International Health Research, Washington DC, December
Speaker, Life Sciences Panel, US-India High Tech Cooperation symposium, Bangalore, India, November
Keynote Speaker, Promoting Biotechnology Partnerships between Andhra Pradesh and Iowa, All-India Biotech Association, Hyderabad, India, November
Keynote Speaker, University Roles in Economic Development , University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India, November
Organizer and Chair, Health R&D/Drug Discovery Partnerships, AUTM, Orlando, March
Usha Balakrishnan founded 