Mike Perham, HHMI, Janelia Research Campus, Director, Innovations and External Relations

Mike Perham, Ph.D., CLP, has been a member of LES since 2009, having served multiple roles on Annual Meeting Committees, as chair of the Life Science Sector leadership team, and the Young Members Council. He is currently a board member and program chair of the 2022 Annual Meeting.  Mike is the Director, Innovations and External Relations at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus, overseeing technology transfer, open science, and external relations. Prior to HHMI, he handled technology transfer and IP management at UTMB, the University of Virginia, Microlab Diagnostics, a startup spun out of UVA, and Health Diagnostic Laboratory. He has spent the last 14 years negotiating and managing a wide variety of out-and in-licensing agreements, Intellectual Property rights transfer from open-source to collaborative development arrangements, managing IP portfolios and leading litigation efforts.  He studied Chemistry at the University of Texas and received a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from Rice University where he was an NIH Biotechnology Trainee and Keck Fellow in the Houston-Area Molecular Biophysics Program.

Sean Sheridan, Charles River Associates

Sean Sheridan, PhD, MBA, is a principal in the Life Sciences Practice at CRA. He has served as an expert witness in cases brought before federal and state courts, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the International Trade Commission, and arbitration tribunals. He has also provided financial consulting services for a variety of non-litigation purposes including transaction due diligence, license negotiations, and strategic decision‐making. Previously, Sean was as an assistant director at the technology transfer office at the University of Chicago where he was responsible for the evaluation, protection and licensing of university inventions and discoveries.