Business 101 for Budding Biotech Scientists 

UCSF class first of its kind in U.S. 

Tom Abate / SF Chronicle 19mar01

Citing a need to be prepared for working in a biotechnology firm rather than an academic setting, UCSF graduate students such as Sandy Waugh (left) and Deborah Dauber are two of 45 students who signed up for what UCSF hopes is the first of a more complete set of classes on the business of bioscience.  Chronicle photo by Chris Hardy

Forty-five students will crowd into a lecture hall at the University of California at San Francisco tonight for what university officials say is the first class of its kind in the nation: an 11-week course designed to teach fledgling scientists the nuts and bolts of the biotechnology business.

Although the graduate business schools at Berkeley and Stanford have long trained scientists to become entrepreneurs, UCSF's course, titled Idea to IPO and Beyond, is the first time a biomedical university has offered a course on business, said Chris Scott, UCSF assistant vice chancellor for research.

"If you look in the supervisory and executive ranks of the biotech industry,

you find many scientists with little or no background in business," Scott said. "That's why we designed (the course) for graduate science students."

The Monday evening class will be taught by San Francisco biotech banking expert Steve Burrill, who hopes to give UCSF students a realistic view of what it takes for scientists to succeed in business.

"Many scientists have a certain naiveté about business, and they have no other option right now except to go to business school," said Burrill.

He designed the course to show students how to take a basic idea, get it patented, write a business plan, win investment capital and build a global business.

To provide real-world experience, he has lined up guest speakers such as Rusty Williams, research director at Chiron Corp.; patent attorney Pete Carroll and finance expert Jamie Streator from the San Francisco investment firm Thomas Weisel Partners.

Enrollment in the class was supposed to be limited to 40 students, but interest was so high that UCSF allowed five more to take the course for credit and may allow others to audit the session.

Deborah Dauber, a 27-year-old chemical biology student who expects to get her doctorate this summer, said she signed up because she isn't interested in pursuing a career in academic science, the presumed path for UCSF graduates.

"I see this course as a chance to learn more about the industry as I go out and look for a job," said Dauber, a Los Altos native and graduate of Palo Alto's Gunn High School.

Sandy Waugh, a fifth-year biochemistry student, said the course was a natural, given her membership in UCSF's entrepreneurs club, where she was part of a team that developed a business plan for a company to do structural analysis of therapeutic molecules.

The business plan was so good that Waugh and fellow UCSF students Rey Banatao, Jose Haresco and Sean Mooney won a $150,000 grand prize in a competition sponsored last year by Garage.com, the San Francisco company that helps startups.

"It was a good idea, but we were a little late getting to market," said Waugh, who shelved the startup to finish her schooling with the expectation of getting her doctorate in the fall.

Unlike the computer industry, which accepts college-dropout entrepreneurs, Waugh said biotech entrepreneurs "need to have a doctorate to be validated by the community."

Now Waugh is taking the class to jump-start her search for a position in a small biotech firm or startup. "The value for me is meeting the people who will come in as lecturers, as well as networking with the other students, most of whom will be going into biotechnology," she said.

UCSF pharmaceutical chemistry professor Charles Craik, who is Waugh's graduate adviser, said she and other students urged the university to start the course to ease their transition to industrial research, which differs from academic settings.

Craik said the class that begins tonight will be the prototype for a more complete set of classes on the business of bioscience. "It will probably evolve to become a Ph.D.-plus type degree," he said.

Tonight's course is open only to students enrolled at UCSF. To reach out to others interested in biotech careers, the university will hold a one-day symposium, Bioentrepreneurship 2001, on April 25.

The event, which is free to UC students and $25 for all others, will feature industry speakers such as attorney Casey McGlynn, who is with the Wilson, Sonsini law firm in Palo Alto; and scientist Jim Sabry, chief executive of Cytokinetics Inc., a biotech firm in South San Francisco.

To register for the public course or to see the reading list for the UCSF- only class, visit itsa.ucsf.edu/%7Eotm/ipo.html#symposium.

E-mail Tom Abate at tabate@sfchronicle.com