Program Overview
The Master Innovator program is an annual recognition program developed to acknowledge Vanderbilt’s top innovators and entrepreneurs for their contributions to the development and commercialization of intellectual property. Awardees have demonstrated excellence in a select number of key commercialization categories, including new inventions disclosed, patent applications filed and issues, new companies formed, technology licenses executed, commercialization revenue generated, and products on the market - all based on the candidate’s innovations created at Vanderbilt. Awardees are memorialized as a member of the CTTC Innovators’ Hall of Fame.
Master Innovator Recognition Awardees
2025 Master Innovators
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Karl Zelik, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
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Kayla J. Temple, Ph.D.
Drug Discovery Scientist, Senior
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John P Wikswo
University Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, and Physics
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Robert Carnahan, Ph.D.
Professor, Pediatrics
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Darren W. Engers, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
2024 Master Innovators
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Carrie K. Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
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Colleen M. Niswender, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology
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Alex G. Waterson, Ph.D.
Research Professor, Pharmacology
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Colleen M. Brophy, M.D.
Professor of Vascular Surgery
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Robert Webster
Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering
2023 Master Innovators
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Richard M. Caprioli, Ph.D.
Director of the Mass Spectrometry Research Center, Department of Biochemistry
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C. David Weaver, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
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Susan Eagle, M.D.
Professor of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology
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Franz J Baudenbacher
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
2022 Master Innovators
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Craig Lindsley, Ph.D., B.S.
University Professor, Department of Pharmacology
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Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D.
Professor, Emeritus, Pharmacology
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James Crowe, M.D.
Ann Scott Carell Chair & Professor, Pediatrics & Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
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Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, Ph.D., M.S., B.S.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
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Michael Goldfarb, Ph.D., M.S., B.S.
H. Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering
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Stephen Fesik, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry & Pharmacology & Chemistry
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Benoit M. Dawant, Ph.D., M.S.
Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering