Dr. Roy Zwahlen has an extensive background in innovation. Most recently, he has been serving as the Chief Strategy Officer at the Eshelman Institute of Innovation, where he led the restructuring and launch of new translational capabilities in therapeutics and digital health. He also works to build strategic partnerships with impact capital (foundations, government, impact investment, venture capital, etc.) to extend the impact of innovation.
Dr. Zwahlen also serves on the leadership team at The University of North Carolina (UNC) Eshelman School of Pharmacy. As the Associate Dean for Strategic Partnerships & Risk Management, he develops end-to-end investment, risk management, and approval processes, led COVID-19 crisis management, and leads the School’s compliance environment proactively identifying, mitigating, and managing risks across international, national, state legal and regulatory issues along with University policies affecting research, education, and technology commercialization.
As the Assistant Dean for Innovation & Strategy at UNC, Dr. Zwahlen led partnership development efforts for the Eshelman Institute and provided intrapreneurship support, including strategic planning, design-thinking, due diligence, and operational support to navigate barriers inherent in a university environment.
Innovation has been at the core of Dr. Zwahlen’s career as he spent some time at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization leading national and international think tank efforts within the biotech community, and conducted advocacy on behalf of BIO’s university, startup, and industry members.
Dr. Zwahlen has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Brigham Young University and a Juris Doctor from the George Mason School of Law. He has also completed an Innovation and Entrepreneurship personal certificate from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Strategic Management Professional Certificate from Wharton School of Business.