The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has selected three University of Pittsburgh professors, including an associate professor of nursing at the School of Nursing, for the 2022 class of NAI Senior Members.
Cecelia C. Yates, PhD, is one of 83 academic inventors who received the recognition. The ranking honors rising leaders and inventors who have produced technologies that bring, or aspire to bring, a real impact on the welfare of society, and who are also successful in patents, licensing, and commercialization while preparing the next generation of inventors.
“I am truly honored to be recognized alongside my colleagues Dr. Antonio D’Amore, Dr. Mahlia Zahid, and previously selected NAI senior members impacting society,” said Yates. “I have had the benefit of continuous support from Pitts Innovation Institute. I also have had the distinct privilege to pursue my lifelong goal of mentoring innovative students to think, transform, and translate together to impact science, technology, human health, and society.”
In her first decade at Pitt, Yates participated in the creation of three startup companies aimed at stopping and even reversing the progression of fibrosis. These companies, Ocugenix, Curastem and FibroKine and methodically advancing toward clinical trials.
Yates also created the first cellular and molecular laboratory for basic, translational, and clinical research within the School of Nursing, which helped open research opportunities for students. She has mentored over 50 students and young faculty, including through the School of Nursing Research Mentorship Program (URMP) and the Medicine Bridge to Biotechnology and Bio-entrepreneurship Pipeline Program. Yates is also the co-director of the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Fellowship Program and mentors several of the pre-doctoral fellows.
Yates has submitted 12 invention disclosures and has received six patents.
The Class of 2022 NAI Senior Members will be inducted during a ceremony at the NAI 11th Annual Meeting on June 14-15 in Phoenix, AZ.