2026 Annual Conference

Christine Dixon Thiesing, MBA, is Associate Vice President for Industry, Innovation, and Translation at the University of Oregon, where she leads efforts to transform research into market-ready innovations and collaborations with corporate partners. She previously held leadership roles at UT Austin, South Carolina Research Authority, and the Medical University of South Carolina, driving commercialization, deep tech investment, startup support, and strategic planning and implementation. Christine has launched numerous initiatives including a seed fund, SBIR/STTR programming, and a life sciences accelerator. Her career began in the drug delivery startup, CyDex, which commercialized Captisol® - the enabling technology behind 17 drugs on the market. She holds an MBA in finance and a BA in biology from the University of Kansas.