Karen Mullis, PhD
Director of New Ventures – WashU
Karen Gheesling Mullis has 30 plus years of experience in academic and pharmaceutical R&D and serves as Director of New Ventures, in the Washington University in St. Louis Office of Technology Management. She joined WashU in 2022 to support growth in entrepreneurship of university researchers and university supported projects to establish strong WashU IP startups. She worked in the biotech startup space first as a Venture Partner, President of Archer Seed Fund with RiverVest Venture Partners, and then in operational roles at Wugen, a RiverVest founded company, helping grow the company from employee #1 to a clinical stage biotech. She spent over 20 years with Pfizer and heritage Pharmacia/Searle, where she was asset project manager and operations team leader in Oncology Clinical Development leading teams from IND to product launch including IBRANCE™. Dr. Gheesling Mullis received her BS in Chemistry from Emory University, her PhD in Biochemistry from University of Alabama at Birmingham. She first came to Washington University in St. Louis for her post-doctoral training with Dr. Rosalind Kornfeld, Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Medicine. She is a Board Member of Equalize startups, a comprehensive program designed to take national action around the disparity of women academic inventors forming university startups. She served as part of the external review Board of Midwest Biomedical Accelerator Consortium 2020- 2024, and joined the External Review Board of Mizzou TechHub in 2025.
David Enke, PhD
Associate Dean of the Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T)
David Enke is the Associate Dean of the Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), as well as a Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering (EMSE). Previously, he was the Interim/Permanent EMSE Department Chair at Missouri S&T from 2022-2024/2012-2015. From 2007-2011, Professor Enke was an Associate Professor and the H. Michael and Laurie Krimbill Faculty Fellow of Finance, and later chair of the Finance and Operations Management department within the Collins College of Business at the University of Tulsa (TU). He was Assistant/Associate Professor of the EMSE faculty from 2000-2007 before leaving to join the business faculty at TU in 2007. Professor Enke received his PhD in Engineering Management in 1997, his MS in Engineering Management in 1994, and his BS in Electrical Engineering in 1990, all from the University of Missouri-Rolla. Professor Enke has teaching interests in the areas of investments, derivatives, financial engineering, financial risk management, and student investment funds. His primary research interests are in the areas of equity price and volatility forecasting, using options and futures for hedging and financial modeling, and developing adaptive trading systems using AI and machine learning, such as artificial neural networks. Professor Enke also has interest in fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, smart contracts, and decentralized finance for facilitating financial transactions.
Craig Weilbaecher, PhD
Business Development Director Office of Technology Management – WashU
Craig Weilbaecher is a Business Development Director at Washington University, specializing in technology transfer and commercialization of medical device, digital health, and medical software innovations. He manages a broad portfolio of intellectual property, driving partnerships, spinouts, and out-licensing opportunities.
Experienced in negotiating licensing agreements, fostering corporate and investor relationships, and advancing collaborative R&D, Craig is dedicated to translating cutting-edge academic research into commercially viable healthcare solutions.
Wally Meyer
President – Q, Inc.
Wally’s experience includes senior management positions at Gillette, Nabisco and Sprint before starting and successfully managing four startup companies in diverse industries, including an IPO on the NYSE. In recognition of that good fortune Meyer joined the faculty of the KU School of Business to put back and start KU’s entrepreneurship program which is now nationally ranked. He has been the Principal Investigator and Director of the EDA grant supported University Center since its inception at KU which supported the launch of the RedTire initiative, the Catalyst student incubator, Jayhawk Consulting and conducted new research to help early aged students acquire skills and knowledge to become successful adult entrepreneurs. He is currently President of Q, Inc. the governing organization of the Lake Quivira Country Club and homeowners’ association. Meyer has mentored numerous new ventures via the Startup School @ KU, Startup Central, Pipeline and two angel investment organizations. He also serves as Board member of several regional organizations including Chair of the Lawrence Douglas County Housing Authority.
Tom Cohen, PhD
Co-founder and President at Panome Bio, a Mass Spec-based multi-omics CRO
Tom Cohen is the co-founder and President at Panome Bio, a Mass Spec-based multi-omics CRO. Tom is also a co-founder of Hypha Life Sciences, a venture studio focused on biotech opportunities capable of near-term revenue generation. Hypha was built during Tom’s time as a director at BioGenerator Ventures, where he helped lead deals into Saint Louis based life sciences companies. Prior to BioGenerator, Tom was co-founder and CEO of Nanopore Diagnostics, a molecular diagnostics startup developing portable microbial testing solutions. Tom received his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from UC San Diego, and then conducted postdoctoral work in diagnostic technology development as a JCC Fund Fellow at Washington University in Saint Louis. His postdoctoral work was licensed to San Diego proteomics startup Encodia. Tom was a 2014 fellow in the Pipeline entrepreneur development program.
Paul Hippenmeyer, Ph.D., M.B.A.
CEO of a Mizzou startup, ADSAT Therapeutics LLC
Paul is currently CEO of a Mizzou startup, ADSAT Therapeutics LLC focused on inducing tolerance in type 1 diabetes. In addition, he is an advisor/COO to Synthetic Vector Designs LLC, a startup in St. Louis designing vectors for genetic engineering in the field of synthetic biology. Prior to this, Paul was a Business Development Director in the Office of Technology Management at Washington University in St. Louis through July 2020 when he retired from his position. Prior to this position, Paul was a Senior Licensing and Business Development Associate in the Office of Technology Management and Industry Relations at the University of Missouri-Columbia from November 2009 through October 2015. In both positions he was responsible for the evaluation of university generated technologies for patentability/marketability and for licensing those promising technologies to corporate entities. Paul’s focus is on biomedical technologies including therapeutics, devices, biomarkers and diagnostics. Paul is an Adjunct Instructor in Management in the Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri.
In addition, Paul has 20+ years in the pharma/biotech drug discovery space with senior scientific leadership roles in several therapeutic areas and in technology development. Prior to working at Mizzou, he was Director of Research at Keel Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA; a start-up biotechnology company targeting type 1 diabetes. Paul held several positions at Monsanto, Searle and Pharmacia rising to the position of Science Fellow and Senior Research Advisor in the oncology division where he directed research in new target identification and characterization. Before his entry into the oncology field, he was a project leader for an antiviral drug discovery program and managed an international collaboration in the protease inhibitor field. Prior to antiviral drug discovery, Paul was involved in technology development. He has 20+ peer reviewed publications and review articles as well as several patents. He was an Assistant Vice President of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), responsible for their annual Licensing Survey.
Education: B.S. in Biology from Creighton University; Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from St. Louis University; M.B.A from University of Missouri-St. Louis.