After a nationwide search, Dr. Gayathri Srinivasan has been named Executive Director of MIT Corporate Relations, which includes the MIT Industrial Liaison Program and MIT Startup Exchange. Dr. Srinivasan’s appointment will begin February 15, 2024, succeeding John Roberts, who has been interim since the retirement of Karl Koster two years ago.
“In Gayathri, we found a leader who is driven by a deep sense of purpose and passion for building strategic alliances and commercializing new technologies,” said Anne White, MIT Vice-Provost and associate VP of research. “That purpose and passion is supported by an over two-decade career in academia.”
Dr. Srinivasan is a distinguished scientist, who received her PhD in Microbiology from The Ohio State University in 2004, where she contributed to the discovery of the 22nd amino acid, Pyrrolysine (2002). She first came to MIT as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Tom Rajbhandary’s lab, where her research focused on understanding protein synthesis mechanism in Archaea.
Dr. Srinivasan subsequently moved into the business development and technology licensing space, serving in MIT’s Technology Licensing Office, where she helped commercialize technologies in medical devices and alternative energies. She then moved to UMass Medical School’s Office of Technology Management in 2009 and to Emory University in Atlanta in 2014, as the Director of Public and Private Partnerships for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In 2019, Dr. Srinivasan joined Emory’s Office of Corporate Relations as Executive Director. Since 2021, she has led the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations.
As Executive Director of MIT Corporate Relations, Dr. Srinivasan will lead the growth of the ILP and Startup Exchange, building on a roster of over 200+ member companies, and forging impactful connections between global business leaders and MIT faculty.
“I’m excited to become a part of a vaunted organization like the ILP that has been instrumental in fostering collaboration between MIT and industry for 76 years,” said Dr. Srinivasan. I look forward to joining its talented and dedicated staff to help shape its future.”
MIT Corporate Relations aids and directs companies interested in multidisciplinary involvement with the Institute. Its expert staff works closely with the Executive Directors of the Office of Strategic Alliances and Technology Transfer (OSATT) to support the MIT research community.
MIT Corporate Relations also offers industry access to MIT through two integrated programs, the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) and MIT Startup Exchange.