Advisory Board Members
Internal Members
- Dustin L. Hufford, SVP and CIO, Cooper University Health Care
- Michael A. Kirchhoff, MD, Chief Innovation Officer, Cooper Innovation Center
- Eric E. Kupersmith, MD, SFHM, SVP and Chief Physician Executive, Cooper University Health Care
- Neal Lemon, PhD, MBA, Director, Cooper Innovation Center
- Gary Lesneski, General Counsel, Cooper University Health Care
- Harry Mazurek, PhD, Administrative Director, Cooper Research Institute; Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Research, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
- Anthony J. Mazzarelli, MD, JD, MBE, Co-CEO, Cooper University Health Care
- Sean P. Murphy, SVP and General Counsel, Cooper University Health Care
- Brian M. Reilly, Chief Financial Officer, Cooper University Health Care
External Members
- Frederick (Rick) Jones, MD, MBA, Partner, BioAdvance
- Timothy Lucas, MD, PhD, CEO, NeuroTech Institute, Neurosurgeon, OSU
- Russ Rudish, Principal, Rudish Health
- Krishna (Kris) P. Singh, PhD, President and CEO, Holtec International
- John S. Swartley, PhD, AVPR and Managing Director, PENN Center for Innovation
- Michael Wiley, VP, Foundation Venture Capital Group
Health Innovation Fellows
Cooper Innovation Center Fellows 2022-2023 (PDF)
Program Overview
The Cooper Innovation Center (CIC) Fellows Program is an experiential education program which launched in the Fall of 2022.
It is open to Cooper medical students and trainees in health professions, as well as graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate students in STEM, Business, and Law at Cooper University Health, Rowan University and Rutgers University at their Camden campuses. The program's headquarters and operations are at the Cooper Innovation Center and is led by its Director, Neal Lemon. Neal Lemon | LinkedIn
CIC Fellows get exposure to a wide range of emerging technologies and commercialization opportunities in the health sciences.
The program runs on an annual cycle. A new cohort begins each Fall and Fellows can participate in consecutive cohorts.
Program Components
- Instructional component (unpaid): CIC Fellows participate in an intensive in-person training workshop –two half days – followed by individualized in-person mentoring that provides the necessary elements to support the commercialization of Cooper technologies. Instruction will be provided by experienced PhD/JD/MBA credited instructors from Cooper University Health Care and Rutgers University.
- Experiential component (paid): following the instructional piece, CIC Fellows take part in a paid internship program focusing on assessing technical, commercial, and IP aspects of Cooper technologies, thereby directly supporting the development of commercialization strategies for Cooper technologies. Cooper Fellows must be able to commit up to eight hours a week, and following an initial in-person meeting, are able to complete the majority of assignments remotely. There is however touch down and meeting space at the Cooper Innovation Center (101 Haddon Ave., Camden) for teams to work on projects. It is anticipated that each Fellow will work on one to two project per month for an average of 10 hours/month. Fellows will receive a stipend of $25/h for project work, with project scope and time allotment well defined.
Fellow Projects
- Invention Assessment: is a report focusing on technical, commercial, and IP aspects of invention disclosures submitted by Cooper researchers. To be completed in one week. 5hours per team member.
- Marketing Assessment: is report focusing on pathway to market and the competitive landscape for the technology. To be completed in one week. 2.5 hours per team member.
- Technology Marketing Summary: is a non-confidential summary of a Cooper invention, published on Cooper’s website and used by Cooper University Health Care in outreach to potential partners. To be completed in one week. 5 hours per team member.
- Special Projects: These may be of longer duration and at discretion of Director. All will relate to some aspect of Technology Transfer in health technology.
Required Commitments
CIC Fellows are expected to:
- Participate in the instructional component
- Commit to work as a Fellow for one year with the option to extend. Program runs from November through May
- Work up to a maximum of eight hours per week on assigned projects
- Attend monthly training meetings (typically 4 to 5 p.m. EST on the third Monday of the month)
- Complete projects on strict deadlines
How to Apply to the Fellows Program (PDF)
Why Work With Cooper
Cooper University Health Care is the leading academic health system in South Jersey and provides access to primary, specialty, tertiary, and urgent care, all within one complete health system. Cooper has more than 8,500 employees, including 800+ physicians practicing in more than 75 specialties. Hospitals throughout the region send the most complex and critically ill and injured to Cooper for treatment by our highly skilled experts.
Cooper includes South Jersey's only Level I trauma center (Cooper University Hospital), which is the busiest trauma center in the Philadelphia region. Cooper is also home to a leading cancer center (MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper), the only Level II pediatric trauma center in the Delaware Valley (Children's Regional Hospital at Cooper), three urgent care centers, and more than 100 outpatient offices from Southeastern Pennsylvania to the Jersey Shore, including large regional hubs in Camden, Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Willingboro, and Sewell.
Cooper University Health Care is affiliated with - and its physicians are on the faculty of - Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, which is located on the Health Sciences Campus in Camden, New Jersey. Cooper has a long history in the City of Camden and is playing a leading role in its revitalization.
For more than 135 years, Cooper has been committed to providing expert, compassionate care to the residents of our region. Today, a growing number of people trust Cooper as their first choice for health care. Cooper University Health Care receives more than 1.9 million patient visits annually and treats patients from all 50 states and 35 countries.