John S. (Pete) Lollar III, MD, and Helen S. Mayberg, MD, have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Election to NAI fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

John S. (Pete) Lollar

Lollar is director of Hemostasis Research in the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University; professor of pediatrics at Emory School of Medicine; and Hemophilia of Georgia, Inc., Chair in Hemostasis. He is a holder, or co-holder, of 10 U.S. patents. He has directed a research team for more than 25 years with the goals of obtaining a better understanding of basic mechanisms of hemostasis and improving treatment for patients with hemophilia. Hemophilia is a group of blood clotting disorders leading to excessive bleeding that can occur spontaneously or following injury or surgery. Hemophilia A is caused by a deficiency of clotting factor VIII, and can be either inherited or acquired.

Lollar cofounded the biotechnology company, Octagen, which in 1998 licensed technology from Emory University to develop novel recombinant factor VIII molecules derived from the protein sequence of pigs. The result was the drug Obizur, a treatment for acquired hemophilia A. Baxter International brought Obizur to commercial availability, and the drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in Oct. 2014.

Lollar’s group currently is pursuing methods to increase the synthesis of factor VIII, which potentially could lead to the development of gene therapy for patients with hemophilia A.

Helen Mayberg

Mayberg is a neurologist and Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Radiology and Dorothy C. Fuqua Chair in Psychiatric Neuroimaging and Therapeutics at Emory University School of Medicine. Working over the last 25 years in both the U.S. and Canada, Mayberg has directed multidisciplinary research teams working to define neural systems mediating mood and emotions in health and disease with a primary focus on major depression and its recovery. This work integrates multimodal imaging techniques, quantitative behavioral and psychophysiological metrics, and experimental treatment trials to define brain-based biomarkers that can optimize treatment selection for individual patients with major depression. 

This work was foundational for the first studies of subcallosal cingulate deep brain stimulation (DBS) for treatment resistant depression, which remains the cornerstone of current studies to both refine and optimize DBS implementation and characterize network mechanisms mediating its antidepressant effects. 

Mayberg is co-holder of the U.S. patent to define a method for Treating Depression, Mood Disorders and Anxiety Disorders using Neuromodulation, which was licensed to Advanced Neuromodulation Systems/St. Jude Medical, Inc. in 2008, and is currently in clinical trials for patients with treatment resistant depression. 

National Academy of Inventors

The 168 fellows named today bring the total number of NAI Fellows to 582, representing more than 190 prestigious research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions. The 2015 fellows account for more than 5,300 issued U.S. patents, bringing the collective patents held by all NAI Fellows to more than 20,000. These academic luminaries have made a significant impact to the economy through innovative discoveries, creating startup companies, and enhancing the culture of academic invention.

Included among all NAI Fellows are more than 80 presidents and senior leaders of research universities and non-profit research institutes, 310 members of the other National Academies, 27 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, 32 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation and U.S. National Medal of Science, 27 Nobel Laureates and 170 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellows, among other awards and distinctions. 

The NAI Fellows will be inducted on April 15, 2016, as part of the Fifth Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Alexandria, Va.

The academic inventors and innovators elected to the rank of NAI fellow are named inventors on U.S. patents and were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation.

More information about the National Academy of Inventors is available here: www.academyofinventors.org