As part of the Business and Technology Development team, Shobha’s responsibilities include assessment of start-up companies, oversight of the group’s research-focused programs, as well as activities related to growth of biotechnology companies across the state. She manages investments for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center through its business funding programs.
Shobha directs the Center’s Industrial Fellowship Program (IFP). This program provides Ph.D.-trained scientists interested in transitioning into scientific careers in industry two-year fellowships to gain industry-oriented research experience. She hosts events related to careers in industry for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows across the state. She is a frequent speaker at the North Carolina Universities and mentors young scientists.
In her role, she interacts routinely with multi-disciplinary groups in academia, industry and government. She has held leadership roles in both for-profit and non-profit organizations. She frequently serves as a reviewer for other funding institutions. She currently serves on the NC Nanotechnology Commercialization Conference steering committee, the Triangle Area Research Director’s Council (TARDC), Women in BIO RTP Chapter (WIB) and the Association of Women in Science (AWIS). Previously, she served as Education Liaison for the Pennsylvania Cancer Control Consortium, where she reviewed legislation, funding and issues of interest to the cancer education community, and on the Board of Directors of the Wissahickon Educational Opportunities Foundation in Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining the Biotechnology Center, Shobha was a senior researcher and manager at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Takeda Oncology) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she conducted drug discovery research, evaluated technologies and developed in-house expertise for multiple therapeutic groups. She received her Ph.D. in molecular genetics and microbiology from Rutgers University/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, M.S. degree in medical microbiology and undergraduate degree in botany (zoology and chemistry) from the University of Madras, India.