Beena Koshy, Ph.D.

Special Consultant, Academia-Industry Partnerships, Office of Health Affairs, University of Texas System

Dr. Beena Koshy is Special Consultant, Academia-Industry partnerships, in the Office of Health Affairs at the University of Texas System.

Beena has a Ph.D. in Life Sciences and was formally trained in biochemistry, immunology, and genetics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and post-doctoral training in genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

She has 15 years of research experience in academia, small biotech and the pharmaceutical industry. Beena was with GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park, NC for nine years, where she was a Manager in R&D. At GSK, Beena led pharmacogenomic projects in multiple therapeutic areas including Oncology, Metabolic, Neuroscience, Respiratory and Infectious Diseases.

She was also a Board member of the GSK Hepatotoxicity Safety Board, Toxicity Leadership Team, Biomarkers Safety Team and the Drug Interaction Advisory Committee. Most recently, she was in the External Alliances Group in Genetics at GlaxoSmithKline.

In that role, she led and maintained collaborations with academic groups in Asia-Pacific, Japan and Emerging Markets (APJEM) to support GlaxoSmithKline's internal programs in drug discovery and development. Beena currently works with Vice Chancellor, Dr. Patricia Hurn, at the UT System on the Texas Fresh AIR (Academia-Industry Roundtable) initiative. As part of the Texas FreshAIR initiative, Beena was responsible for outlining and executing a strategy for initiating partnerships between the UT System and its institutions and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Career path

Starting off with a Ph.D. in biochemistry from India, Beena moved to cell biology and genetics research with Dr. Huda Zoghbi at the Baylor College of Medicine. Post a productive post-doctoral training period, Beena made a conscious decision to move to industry. Beena started off as group leader in the Bioinformatics division of a small biotech company, Genaissance Pharmaceuticals in New Haven, CT generating haplotypes for genes in the druggable genome.

Spurred by an interest in learning about drug development, Beena moved to GlaxoSmithKline where she worked in all phases of drug development from target validation to phase IV leading pharmacogenomics studies ranging from PK, efficacy and safety in many different therapeutic areas.

Following their family’s move to Texas, Beena applied her years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry and her experience in the External Affairs group in Genetics, to create and execute a strategy to build strong partnerships with industry for the UT System and its institutions.

Education

• Post-graduate training Baylor College of Medicine, 1995-1999
• Ph.D. Biochemistry and Immunology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 1995
• M. S. Medical Biochemistry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India, 1987