Op-Ed: Mike Fitts on Tulane and entrepreneurship
In a Nola.com opinion piece, Tulane University President Mike Fitts explains how Tulane feeds entrepreneurship in New Orleans. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Nola.com / The Times-Picayune today published an opinion piece by Tulane University president Mike Fitts. Read an excerpt from the piece below:
"A biomedical company works diligently in New Orleans to create a new, potentially groundbreaking treatment for the flu. Thankfully, it doesn"t labor in isolation. The firm combines discoveries from the Tulane University School of Medicine, support from Tulane and a team of leaders who trained or taught at Tulane. It operates in a city that, unbowed by flood, recession and oil spill, pulses with enthusiasm for reinvention. It is poised at one of the most fertile places for innovation: the intersection of a great university and a great city.
'Great cities and great universities also fuel each other.'—Mike Fitts, president of Tulane University
"The company, called Autoimmune Technologies, has received almost $20 million in grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health to advance its testing. It employs about a dozen people in New Orleans, where the founders are determined to maintain their headquarters. If it successfully navigates the approval process for a drug stopping the flu virus from entering target cells, it could grow tremendously. CEO Michael Charbonnet said that, with all its ties to Tulane, the company demonstrates the economic possibilities of research universities.
"Great cities and great universities also fuel each other. I"ve spent a career in higher education but never seen this more vividly demonstrated than in the year I"ve now spent in New Orleans. Before I moved here, I had long heard about the city"s renown for vibrant food and music scenes. I knew Tulane always relished this cultural richness and creativity."
