Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Michael Baltezor has been named director of a University of Kansas research center that focuses on bringing new drugs to market.

Baltezor has worked for drug development companies since 1976, according to KU officials, most recently as vice president of research and development in the infection prevention division of CareFusion, Inc.

He will head KU’s Biotechnology Innovation and Optimization Center, known as BIOC, a research and commercialization group that operates at the Lawrence and medical center campuses. Officials said BIOC is an important component of KU’s initiative to obtain National Cancer Institute designation for the KU Cancer Center.

“Having someone with Mike’s vast industry experience in this role will be a real plus for BIOC,” said Steve Warren, KU vice provost for research and graduate studies. “He has a tremendous track record as a business executive who also understands the science extremely well.”

Baltezor will report to Warren and serves as an associate director of KU’s Institute for Advancing Medical Innovation, which was established in 2009 with an $8.1 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and matching funds from the university endowment.

Baltezor received a doctorate in pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry in 1977 and a master’s in 1975, both from KU.

BIOC was established in 2008 with support from the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation. Its research programs are funded primarily by grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health, IAMI, the KU Cancer Center, industrial partners and nonprofit, health-related organizations.