Lita Nelsen retired in 2016 from her position as Director of the Technology Licensing Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she had been since 1986. Since then, she has consulted in the field of university technology transfer and licensing.
Ms. Nelsen earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. and an M.S. in Management from M.I.T. as a Sloan Fellow. Prior to joining the M.I.T. TLO, she spent 20 years in industry, primarily in the fields of membrane separations, medical devices, and biotechnology.
Ms. Nelsen is widely published in the field of technology transfer and has been a lecturer and advisor to governments and universities in over 25 countries She has served on many non-profit boards and was president of the Association of University Technology Managers. She is currently on the scientific advisory boards of Partners’ Investment Fund, and two biotechnology companies that started from university inventions. She was co-founder of Praxis, the UK University Training Company (now part of Praxis Auril.)
Ms. Nelsen was awarded Xconomy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Biotechnology in 2017 and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Henry Termeer Innovative Leadership Award in 2018 In 2009 the UK Government awarded her the honor of “Member of the Order of the British Empire” (MBE) for her work with technology transfer institutions throughout the UK.