Emily J. McFadden, PhD, serves as manager of business development and licensing at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago.

Prior to joining Polsky, Emily worked at Cooley LLP as a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) registered patent agent. While at Cooley, Emily reviewed freedom-to-operate and landscape analyses, performed due diligence as part of mergers and acquisitions, and completed patent drafting and prosecution.

Emily earned her PhD in Biochemistry from Duke University where she studied long non-coding RNA structure-function relationships in prostate cancer. While at Duke, Emily applied for and received a NIH T32 fellowship through the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering and completed an internship at BD Genomics in Research Triangle Park, NC as part of the fellowship. After her PhD, Emily completed post-doctoral training at Yale University where she studied ribosome biogenesis and ribosomopathies.

In her free time, Emily enjoys checking out parks and nature trails, finding new music and podcasts, and exploring Chicago.