Michael Mowatt | Director, Technology Transfer And Intellectual Property Office
National Institute of Health - NIAID

Since 2001 Dr. Mowatt has directed the technology transfer program at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). His team of fifty talented professionals includes scientists, attorneys, and former business persons who facilitate cutting edge biomedical research and advance the development and commercialization of NIAID’s innovations for the betterment of public health. NIAID’s commercial successes include vaccines for viral hepatitis and rotavirus, monoclonal antibodies against respiratory syncytial virus, veterinary vaccines that employ recombinant poxviruses, and diagnostic tests for gastrointestinal parasites and viruses.

In addition to managing NIAID’s intellectual property portfolio of 400 patent families, over 30% of which is licensed, Dr. Mowatt’s team negotiates transactional agreements, including Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), that underpin the success of NIAID’s research and R&D programs.  His team has negotiated a wide variety of agreements with partners that include universities, nongovernmental organizations, other US government agencies, and philanthropic organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as commercial concerns ranging from large pharmaceutical companies with bureaucracies that rival that of the US government to small biotechnology companies and everything in between. Since 2015 the office has also managed patenting and licensing for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In addition to promoting and negotiating partnerships with the private sector, Dr. Mowatt has led the growth of his office to support the expanding needs of NIAID’s biodefense and emerging infectious disease research initiatives, including the Ebola and Zika viruses and most recently SARS-CoV-2.