April 1, 2026
Inside Pitt’s Push for Innovation Commercialization: A Q&A with Evan Facher
A look at how Pitt takes ideas and makes them market ready.
TOPICS: Innovation & Commercialization
Designs on Aging-Ready
By Kat Procyk
Evan Facher, inaugural associate dean for commercial translation at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, says it is essential for the University to move discoveries to patients. Facher, who is also vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship at the Pitt Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and his team lead efforts that support innovators through intellectual property protection, commercialization, enterprise development, student entrepreneurship and industry partnerships.
Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
“Commercialization isn’t a solo effort; it’s a team sport, and we want researchers to know there’s a full support system available to them.”
Lucas Berenbrok, associate professor of pharmacy and therapeutics
Q: How do you define commercial translation, and why is it a critical priority?
EF: Commercial translation is an essential part of research impact across Pitt. It extends the work of faculty beyond publications, grants and teaching by ensuring that ideas created in labs and classrooms can truly benefit people. This aligns directly with the University’s mission and is part of the Plan for Pitt 2028 of creating societal good, not just generating knowledge. Translation helps move discoveries from campus into real‑world settings where they can make a measurable difference. Ultimately, it represents the full value of our research enterprise—because even a major breakthrough, like a potential cure for cancer, falls short if it never reaches the patients who need it. That’s why advancing ideas to the market is a critical priority.
Q: How does your role engage with faculty, trainees and clinical departments to identify and advance projects with strong translational potential?
EF: We use many approaches to engage faculty, staff, students and clinical departments down this pathway. The center of our efforts is our outreach and engagement team, whose job is to make sure people across campus know these resources exist and that they don’t have to navigate commercial translation alone. Commercialization isn’t a solo effort; it’s a team sport, and we want researchers to know there’s a full support system available to them.
Many researchers don’t naturally see themselves as innovators or realize this ecosystem exists. Our goal is to make clear both the opportunity and urgency: commercialization can accelerate real‑world impact and improve patient care.
Q: What metrics do you consider most meaningful when evaluating the impact of commercial translation efforts?
EF: Everything begins with an invention disclosure. When a faculty member believes they’ve discovered something with commercial potential, they submit an electronic disclosure through the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s website. That's the first step. From there, we measure how many disclosures move into patent filings, and later, how many patents are ultimately issued, which can take three to five years and serves as a key benchmark compared to other universities.
We also track how many innovations are licensed or optioned to form the basis of new companies that can bring them to market. Startups are particularly important because they fuel regional economic growth—most new jobs in the United States come from small businesses.
Finally, we monitor downstream outcomes such as venture funding, development progress and market launches to understand how ideas move from initial disclosure to real-world impact.
Q: Pitt recently reached a record number of invention disclosures. What do you believe contributed to that increase?
EF: The School of Medicine drives most of our metrics because of its large research volume, so it unsurprisingly drives a significant share of our activity. This year’s 444 invention disclosures—the highest ever and around a 13% increase from our previous record—reflect intentional growth. Success depends on engagement, outreach and investment that foster lasting relationships.
Q: What new programs, resources or funding mechanisms have you introduced to strengthen the translational pipeline, and what early results are you seeing?
EF: Much of this progress is due to the strong support for innovation from Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine. In partnership with his office, we launched two key efforts: Pitt Idea Navigation to Commercialization (Pitt.INC) and Pitt SPARK. Pitt.INC is an ecosystem approach meant to advance early-stage ideas to impact, while Pitt SPARK is a specific program in that ecosystem for later-phase projects closer to commercial readiness.
We also host the Community of Innovators, a free networking and learning group that meets regularly to discuss commercialization topics. Together, these initiatives help fill gaps across the entire translation pipeline.
Q: Looking ahead, what do you see as the most important next step for accelerating commercial translation?
EF: Our outreach efforts will continue, and we’re expanding our presence off campus as well. For example, we’re hosting a private Pitt event at the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest biotech partnering conference, in San Diego, California, to showcase our capabilities directly to industry and venture capital leaders.
We’re also excited about new artificial intelligence‑driven opportunities in medicine, including collaborations with partners, such as Leidos through Pitt's Computational Pathology and AI Center of Excellence.