E-Insight

September 2007

Former Abbott VP to Head Cancer and Infectious Disease Enterprises

Colorado State University and Colorado State Ventures announced pharmaceutical leader Dr. Terry Opgenorth as the chief operating officer for NeoTREX and MicroRx, the enterprise arms of the University’s first two Superclusters.

Dr. Opgenorth joins the University after 20 years with Abbott Laboratories' Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development organization where he most recently served as Divisional Vice President of Drug Discovery overseeing antiviral, metabolic disease and target-lead discovery research.

MicroRx is the enterprise arm of the University's first Supercluster, focused on infectious disease, which was announced in February. The University's second Supercluster, Cancer Research and Treatment, and its enterprise arm NeoTREX, were announced in August. The Cancer Supercluster will leverage existing cancer research from five colleges and create a highly-collaborative structure to develop effective treatments and products to fight cancer and quickly moving these advances to the marketplace.

"The Superclusters concept we've created at Colorado State provides a groundbreaking vehicle for moving university research to the global marketplace," said Colorado State University President Larry Edward Penley. "Terry Opgenorth brings an extraordinary combination of business acumen and scientific expertise that will help ensure the success of this landmark endeavor."

Dr. Opgenorth received his bachelor's degree in biology from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and master's and doctoral degrees in physiology from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Following postdoctoral research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., he joined Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles as an assistant professor of Medicine in a newly formed hypertension research group. He also was an adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCLA.
 
The Cancer Supercluster is a collaboration of the University's Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Natural Sciences, Applied Human Sciences, Agricultural Sciences and Engineering. It builds on more than three decades of excellence in cancer research, currently funded at the university by numerous organizations including NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, Morris Animal Foundation and Department of Energy.

The Infectious Disease Supercluster was the first of the university's Superclusters. The infectious disease research program at CSU has global renown for its infectious disease discoveries, including work in West Nile virus, leprosy, bubonic plague and tuberculosis. The Colorado State Foothills Research Campus is home to some of the world's most advanced research techniques, facilities, equipment and some of the world's leading researchers in the field of infectious disease.