Translational Academy nurtures talent and technology

In 2020, Brianna Vickerman made the kind of lab breakthrough scientists dream about — a new way to control the precise location, timing and dosing of a drug using light-activated materials. Her innovation could potentially revolutionize treatment for all sorts of conditions, from life-threatening blood clots to cancer.

Vickerman was a biochemistry doctoral student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the time, trained as a scientist, not an entrepreneur. To learn how to commercialize her research, she needed the Eshelman Innovation Translational Academy.

The academy provides entrepreneurial education and support for innovators and early-career faculty. Most startups fail — up to 90%. The academy’s incubator setting and support improves those odds.

Rising to 30 Under 30

As her postdoc appointment came to an end, Vickerman faced a career crossroads: form a company or accept a secure job in industry?  The Translational Academy gave Vickerman another option, promoting her to a faculty position and surrounding her with expertise and support.

One of her advisers was the co-founder of a Research Triangle biotechnology company that was the first to receive FDA approval for a bioengineered blood vessel.

“Having mentors like that has made all the difference,” Vickerman says. “Eshelman Innovation provided the crucial funding and support to allow me to grow professionally while advancing an early-stage technology.”

The project has raised more than $4 million in grant funding to date. For her promising research into light-activated therapeutics, Forbes named Vickerman one of North America’s 30 most accomplished scientists under the age of 30 in 2025.

“What differentiates the Translational Academy is its dual focus on talent and technology,” says Roy Zwahlen, Eshelman Innovation’s acting executive director and chief strategy officer. “It enables talented scientists to grow into entrepreneurial leaders while advancing specific healthcare technologies toward commercial success.”

Building a Carolina Core

Another Academy alumnus is a cancer survivor turned Carolina cancer researcher.

When Andrew Satterlee was battling brain cancer, his doctors disagreed on what treatments he should receive. As a researcher, Satterlee developed an innovative way to use tumor samples to help match treatment to patient.

Like Vickerman, Satterlee was eager to launch a company but lacked entrepreneurial expertise. Through a grant and a gift from the Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure philanthropy, the academy provided Satterlee funding, a faculty position and a team of advisers.

His program collects brain tumor tissues from patients getting surgery at UNC hospitals and treats the still-living tumors with a broad range of therapies in his lab.

“Eshelman innovation helps you find your way to the resources you need,” says Max Wallace, former CEO of Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure. “Some of that’s money, but some of that is advising.”

The advisory team helped Satterlee create the Screening Live Cancer Explants Program and Core, one of UNC-Chapel Hill’s shared research facilities. The core has had immediate success supporting Carolina researchers, including helping Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar develop a new brain cancer drug, and has attracted commercial clients who use it for drug discovery.

“Eshelman Innovation provided me a unique home to build an audacious and unconventional program at the interface of academia and industry,” says Satterlee, Eshelman Innovation assistant professor and the core’s director. “They provided the infrastructure and expertise to help me incubate and shape that vision into the program that exists today.”

The latest academy fellow, assistant professor Anwar Hossain, is a medicinal chemist working to develop a promising drug for chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease now spiking globally.

And Eshelman Innovation is there with him, supporting both talent and technology.