Office of the Senior Vice President for Research & Innovation

Paul R. Sanberg, Ph.D., D.Sc.

Senior Vice President for Research & Innovation
President, USF Research Foundation
Distinguished University Professor
University of South Florida

Dr. Paul R. Sanberg is Senior Vice President for Research & Innovation, Distinguished University Professor. Dr. Sanberg trained at York University, the University of British Columbia, the Australian National University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, among others. Before coming to USF, Dr. Sanberg held academic positions at Ohio University, the University of Cincinnati, and Brown University.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Sanberg served as Associate Dean in Morsani College of Medicine, Associate Vice President in USF Health, Senior Associate Vice President for the Office of Research & Innovation and Special Assistant to the President all at USF.

Dr. Sanberg is a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute of Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, and has served on numerous scientific advisory boards for health-related foundations and companies. He has significant industry experience with biotech companies involved in cell therapy for degenerative disorders and biopharmaceutical development. He is the Editor-in-chief of Technology and Innovation, and serves on editorial boards for more than 30 scientific journals. Dr. Sanberg is the President of the National Academy of Inventors and has also served as president of a number of professional societies including the American Society for Neural Transplantation and Repair, the Cell Transplant Society, and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society. He is the author of more than 550 scientific articles, including thirteen books, with over 16,000 scientific citations (Google scholar).

As an inventor on approximately 100 health-related U.S. and foreign patents, his early work was pioneering in understanding why brain cells die in neurological disorders and in drug abuse research. His recent research has focused on discovering innovative ways to repair the damaged brain, and has helped lead the team that demonstrated that bone marrow and umbilical cord blood derived stem cells can be transformed to neural cells that may be useful in stroke, spinal cord injury and ALS. Dr. Sanberg’s work has been instrumental in translating new pharmaceutical and cellular therapeutics to clinical trials for Tourette syndrome, depression, stroke, Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.