Evan Facher

  • Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • Associate Dean for Commercial Translation in the School of Medicine

As Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Evan Facher directs Pitt's Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This office strengthens the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship at Pitt and the region by providing a suite of facilitation and support services for innovators, from protecting intellectual property to the commercialization of new discoveries through licensing and/or new enterprise development, and provides a wealth of educational programming, mentoring, and networking for Pitt faculty, students, regional businesses and industry partners to help achieve societal impact through commercialization.

Most recently, Facher was President/CEO of SironRX Therapeutics, a private, clinical-stage company developing novel drug therapies. Prior to that, he worked in Bayer Healthcare’s medical device division as general manager of its Pittsburgh Interventional business. During this tenure, he also served as executive director of corporate development, overseeing company strategy and mergers and acquisitions.

Facher started his career as senior manager business development at the biotechnology company Athersys, where he was a business development leader creating partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies. Over his career, he has been involved with corporate fundraisings bringing in nearly $100 million from venture, strategic partner and grant sources as well as a leader in company and product acquisitions totaling over $600 million of investments.