Program Director, Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC

Dr. Qing Liu-Michael has worked in both the pharmaceutical industry and academia. As a program director, she works with the director of USC’s stem cell research center, Dr. Andy McMahon, and established USC Stem Cell, an initiative that unites all researchers working in the area of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at USC. She is tasked with identifying potential industry partners, facilitating negotiations of contract agreements with biotech/pharma partners and managing various programs within USC Stem Cell.

Before joining USC, Dr. Liu-Michael was the assistant director for clinical research strategies at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, where her main duties were managing several clinical trial projects, including a CIRM disease team project on gene/cell therapy for HIV/AIDS (PI, Dr. John Zaia). Prior to moving to Southern California in 2010, she was the associate director for strategic alliances at Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). Among other responsibilities, she managed the large-scale collaboration between GlaxoSmithKline and HSCI, as well as helped initiate new partnerships with other companies such as Sanofi, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Roche.

Her previous experience as a group leader and project team leader at sanofi-aventis (SA) informs her current work in academia. At SA, she was responsible for molecular target identification of a lead central nervous system compound as well as the development of high content based assays for several neurodegenerative diseases.

For five years, Dr. Liu-Michael served as an instructor at Harvard Medical School, where she did independent research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis before transitioning into industry. Dr. Liu-Michael received her PhD from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and completed her postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.