Subhra Mohapatra, PhD
Professor of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine
Research Career Scientist, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital
Mohapatra is a pioneering scientist/researcher whose work over 26 years has been instrumental in advancing the frontiers of drug delivery of therapeutics for cancer, traumatic brain injury and COVID-19. She developed a novel 3D scaffold for cell culture, now universally known as “tumor-on-a-disc” technology, enabling scientists to grow tumors in the lab which can be used to culture patient biopsies, test for anticancer compounds, and allow tailoring of personalized cancer treatment. This platform has led to a line of cell biology products which have been commercialized globally. She also pioneered novel methods significantly advancing drug delivery for cancer. She holds 18 patents and one foreign patent for her work, seven of which have been licensed to companies and are actively being developed.
She is co-founder of two USF spinouts, TransGenex Nanobiotech Inc., and Agile Diagnostics Inc., which respectively commercialize her innovative and cost-effective cancer stem cell-based drug discovery technologies and drugs targeting cancer stem-cells, and a COVID-19 focused point of care/home diagnostics technologies.
She serves as Academic Editor for PLOS One, Guest Editor for Journal of Drug Delivery and Translational Research and Journal of Applied Sciences and as the ad hoc reviewer for approximately 30 scientific journals in the last 15 years, and additionally as reviewer on more than a dozen national organization committees and panels. Mohapatra was selected among the inaugural class of NAI Senior Members and is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, Biomedical Engineering Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The 2021 Fellow class collectively holds more than 4,800 issued U.S. patents. Among the new class of Fellows are 33 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and three Nobel Laureates, as well as other honors and distinctions. Their collective body of research and entrepreneurship covers a broad range of scientific disciplines involved with technology transfer of their inventions for the benefit of society.
To date, NAI Fellows hold more than 48,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated over 13,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created more than one million jobs. In addition, over $3 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.
The NAI was founded at USF in 2010 and since has grown to boast a membership of over 200 institutions in the U.S. and worldwide of all sizes, concentrations and innovative focuses. The organization recently held its 10th annual meeting in Tampa.