Continuing our recognition of Pitt Innovators feted at the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Celebration of Innovation on April 25, 2023, at the Petersen Events Center Campus View Club, we feature the 2023 Marlin Mickle Outstanding Innovator Award recipient, William Wagner.
The Marlin Mickle Outstanding Innovator Award is presented to a Pitt faculty member who has achieved a sustained commitment to innovation throughout a distinguished career. Dr. Wagner is Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine as well as Distinguished Professor of Surgery, Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Wagner’s research interests are generally in cardiovascular engineering, with projects that address medical device biocompatibility and design, biomaterials development and tissue engineering. His research has generated nearly 50 issued patents and patent filings that have resulted in significant licensing activity and the formation of three startup companies.
Among his many honors and awards, he was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2016. Under his leadership, the McGowan Institute has grown into the most prolific research institutes at Pitt in terms of commercialization activity. , McGowan-affiliated faculty and students have submitted more than 1,000 invention disclosures; have been issued 220 patents; and have executed more than 200 licenses, 34 startup companies and counting.
Pitt innovators interested in learning about innovation commercialization concepts at their own pace now have a curated set of videos and other resources to help them on the Innovation Institute website. Learn about best practices for submitting an invention disclosure, intellectual property protection, developing a value proposition for your innovation, conducting customer discovery and market and competitive analyses and much more.