2018 UF Innovator of the Year – Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna

2018Innovator_Mavis2UF Innovate, the umbrella organization covering Tech Licensing, Sid Martin Biotech and The Hub, honored innovators at an event on Thursday evening, 9/20, called Standing InnOvation. This event was created around a play on the phrase “standing ovation,” because that, in truth, was what UF Innovate wanted to do for their premier innovators.

Dr. Mavis Agbandje-McKenna, Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, was selected to receive this distinguished Innovator of the Year award because of the breadth and depth of her work with AAV (adeno-associated virus) gene therapy and the impact her work has had, and will have, on the global good. AAV gene therapy has made amazing strides this year; for instance, the FDA approved the first gene therapy for a genetic disease in December 2017, and that gene therapy is based in part on UF research. Because Dr. Mavis helped lead the way in using AAV for therapy, she was an obvious choice for this award!

Dr. Mavis, your department – your faculty colleagues, staff and students – congratulates you in this esteemed award!

2018Innovator_MavisCollagePictured above, center picture, standing left to right: Dr. Arun Srivastava, Dr. Bert Flanegan, Dr. Nicholas Muzyzcka, Dr. Robert McKenna, Dr. Ken Berns, and Dr. David Norton.

 


Dr. Agbandje-McKenna’s colleagues and mentors share their accolades in this video which was shown at Standing InnOvation event.