Meet the Technology Ventures Team

James D. Laur, JD, is Chief Intellectual Property Officer and heads up Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures reporting to the health system’s chief financial officer. In addition, Laur is the Managing Director of Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures, the institution’s venture fund. Laur’s primary responsibilities are focused on innovation, technology transfer, venture investment, and international business activities. He drives new business development and investment opportunities involving innovation and technology-related activities at Cedars-Sinai and its global partners. Laur serves as the executive responsible for the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator Program and also represents Cedars-Sinai on the board of directors of Coronet Ventures (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. in addition to board positions on some of the institution’s spinoff companies and other investments.

Laur began his career at Cedars-Sinai in 1991 in the Legal Affairs Department. He was deputy general counsel and served as primary counsel for the Cedars-Sinai Research Institute and its information technology department. Since 1994, Laur has played a leadership role in the Cedars-Sinai Technology Transfer Office, which has earned over $150 million in royalty income from its licensing program over the past 5 years. In addition to managing the institution’s intellectual property portfolio, Laur has been instrumental in structuring numerous spin-off companies based on early-stage technologies from research laboratories at Cedars-Sinai and its international partners. Among the better known of these companies are Prometheus Biosciences, Gemelli Biotech, Gravidas Diagnostics, and Evida Biosciences (f/k/a Prometheus Laboratories)

Laur is a frequent speaker at local and international meetings on intellectual property issues, technology ventures, innovation development and commercialization strategies. He holds dual bachelor’s degrees, with honors, from UCLA in political science and philosophy. He earned his doctorate of law degree, cum laude, from the Boston College Law School.

Nirdesh K. Gupta, PhD, is Managing Director of Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures and the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator. Dr. Gupta also leads and provides key operations leadership to Business Units and Commercial Enterprises at Cedars-Sinai such as 3rd Street Technologies, The Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) & Cedars-Sinai Biomanufacturing Center (CBC). Dr. Gupta directed CSTV’s Seed Fund and Equity investments and have $275M+ equity under management representing over 20 companies, with multiple significant financial exits.

Dr. Gupta works closely with, and mentors, world-class scientists and entrepreneurs to build companies to develop innovative products and platforms that address critical healthcare needs. Dr. Gupta and his team support company creation, equity and IP portfolio management, preclinical and clinical development of breakthrough technologies, business development, licensing & industry alliances including pilot programs and co-development partnerships with startups and major industry players. Dr. Gupta’s leadership has led to multiple successful partnerships with industry, and he has directly played an instrumental role in company co-creation of several Cedars-Sinai spinoffs notably Prometheus Biosciences, Gemelli Biotech, and Gravidas Diagnostics.

Dr. Gupta was a nominated member of the Business Advisory Council of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and has served as member of their Innovation and Competitiveness Task Force. He holds a bachelor's and doctorate degrees in pharmaceutical sciences.

Julien Brohan joined Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures in 2016 to manage the portfolio of inventions with a focus on medical devices and digital health technologies (from initial disclosure to out-licensing). In addition to this core function, he also manages so-called venture projects, which aims at de-risking early-stage technologies to make them more attractive candidates for commercialization. He works closely with Cedars-Sinai employees to help translate ideas into invention and eventually innovation.

Prior to joining Technology Ventures, Brohan served as a licensing associate for the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the largest French nonprofit public research organization.

Along with business acumen, Brohan has broad academic and research experience in chemical sciences. He is also registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a patent agent and is a certified licensing professional.

Wenyue Du joined Technology Ventures in 2014. She works closely with Cedars-Sinai faculty and research staff to support their innovation efforts. She manages a portfolio of therapeutic and diagnostic inventions from assessment, patent and commercialization strategies, through licensing and compliance management. Du also develops educational programs for internal researchers on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Du was a licensing intern in the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization at Vanderbilt University. She interned as an analyst for a molecular diagnostic company focused on rare diseases. Du received her doctorate in biological sciences from Vanderbilt University. She is also a registered patent agent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and a certified licensing professional.

Kinshuk Kocher started working with Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures (CSTV) in 2023. He brings a venture operator's perspective, applying commercial and financial acumen to assess CSTV's early stage investments across med tech, bio tech and digital health. Kocher also oversees existing portfolio management and performance reporting. Leveraging his extensive healthcare experience across startups, biopharma, and consulting, Kocher brings valuable insights to portfolio investments.

Previously, he supported health startups globally and spearheaded the establishment of the first digital health incubator at GSK. Before GSK, Kocher built and sold Caredose, a health tech venture focused on tackling medication non-adherence among chronic patients. He spent his early years with McKinsey & Company, advising healthcare clients on market entry, growth strategies, and operational efficiencies. He holds a degree in Economics and an MBA from the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, UK.

Emily Mack joined the Technology Ventures team as program administrator in March 2023. She supports the Global Alliances Program by creating and maintaining relationships with Technology Ventures’ international partners and helps them make connections at Cedars-Sinai.

Emily has over 10 years of experience in marketing, events and project management. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Emily worked at General Dynamics Mission Systems, an aerospace and defense company, where she managed business operations for the marketing, trade show and creative media teams. She has a bachelor’s degree in public management and policy from the University of Arizona.

Alexandra Mendoza joined the Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures team as a licensing associate in January 2019. She works with Cedars-Sinai faculty and researchers to protect and commercialize their therapeutic and diagnostic inventions. In her role, she is responsible for technology assessments, intellectual property management, industry marketing, and aids in licensing and post-license compliance. Before coming to Cedars-Sinai, Alexandra was an intern at the UCLA Technology Development Group and earned a doctorate in materials chemistry from UCLA.

Song Qu, PhD, joined Technology Ventures in April 2017. He works closely with colleagues on the marketing team to manage a portfolio of therapeutic and diagnostic inventions from Cedars-Sinai inventors. Qu performs various tasks such as assessing patentability and commercial potential analysis on disclosed inventions, coordinating IP protection strategy, marketing technologies and managing license agreements. Qu received his PhD in biology from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. Qu was the vice president of Operations of the Scripps Consulting Club, and he worked on several projects with the Office of Technology Development at the Scripps Research Institute prior to joining Cedars-Sinai.

Rutwik Rath joined Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures in March 2022 to help manage the portfolio of inventions, with a focus on medical devices and digital health. Working with Cedars-Sinai employees, Rath helps translate ideas into invention and eventually innovation (from initial disclosure to out-licensing).

Prior to joining Technology Ventures, Rath served as a technology licensing manager at City of Hope, a nonprofit National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. Earlier in his career, Rath served as a member of the UCLA and University of California, Davis (UCD) technology transfer offices (TTOs)—both campuses are part of the University of California public research university system.

Rath earned his master’s in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University, a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Christopher Sue joined the Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures team as a licensing associate in April 2022. He works with Cedar-Sinai’s researchers to market and commercialize their therapeutic and diagnostic inventions. Chris works on initial technology assessments, aids in the management of intellectual property, and marketing to industry. Before joining Cedars-Sinai, Chris received his PhD in Chemistry from UCLA and was previously a Technology Development Fellow at UCLA’s Technology Development Group.

Jian Tajbakhsh, PhD, works closely with the technology ventures team at Cedars-Sinai, specifically in the development of diagnostic tests. His role involves scientific and technical assessment of diagnostics and medical device products, as well as managing the development and clinical validation of selected leads into commercializable products in collaboration with industrial partners, through 3rd Street Technologies (a Technology Ventures business unit).

Before joining Cedars-Sinai, Tajbakhsh worked as principal investigator of multiple National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation-awarded industrial and academic projects in the biotech industry. He also served as faculty in the Department of Surgery and the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai. His work includes devising molecular and cell-based assays and systems for the diagnosis of various cancers and infectious diseases.

Tajbakhsh received his master’s degree in industrial biology (Technische Biologie) from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and a doctorate in cancer biology at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. He completed his postdoctoral research in cancer genomics at UCLA's Human Genetics department.

Jacob Zeitzew joined Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures in May 2023, bringing his expertise in commercializing, licensing and marketing medical devices, digital health technologies and AI innovations in medicine. With a background in product management and evaluation of novel medical products, Jacob previously made significant contributions to the Philadelphia Pediatric Device Consortium at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. There, he facilitated the distribution of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) funding grants, evaluated cutting-edge medical technologies and spearheaded the development of building novel medical devices for children.

Jacob holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures, he gained valuable experience as an associate at both Techstars Healthcare and the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator.

Eric See manages the Operations side of Technology Ventures. In this capacity, he assists with managing the intellectual property data, financials, and database system for the Technology Ventures Office. See received his Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Masters of Art in Teaching both from the University of Southern California.

Rachel Pottak has been with Cedars-Sinai since 2019 and joined the Technology Ventures team in 2023. As a project manager, she supports various functions of the licensing and financial operations. Rachel’s previous experience includes nonprofit event marketing and communications, fundraising and teaching. She has a bachelor of arts degree from California State University, Northridge.