OVPR Executive Committee
Alan S. Rudolph, Vice President for Research
Phone: (970) 491-7194
Email:Alan.Rudolph@colostate.edu
Alan Rudolph serves as the vice president for research at Colorado State University. Rudolph has had an active career in translating interdisciplinary life sciences into useful applications for biotechnology development. His experience spans basic research to advanced development in academia, government laboratories, and most recently in the nonprofit and private sectors.
He has published more than 100 technical publications in areas including molecular biophysics, lipid self-assembly, drug delivery, blood substitutes, medical imaging, tissue engineering, neuroscience and diagnostics. His work led new strategic efforts for useful principles and practices in life sciences and technology and established a framework for investments in biosciences and biotechnology. Rudolph earned a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California at Davis and an MBA from George Washington University.
Christa Johnson, Chief of Staff
Phone: (970) 491-7194
Email: Christa.Johnson@colostate.edu
Christa Johnson serves as a key member of the OVPR leadership team as well as an advocate and adviser to the vice president for research and operational activities. She leads the implementation of programs and the deployment of resources to strengthen CSU’s research administrative support and guide the university to meet the emerging research opportunities of the future. Johnson serves as the senior staff responsible for effective implementation of the VPR’s institutional agenda. She provides executive oversight of the OVPR and its divisions and serves as a liaison between the OVPR and stakeholders helping to achieve significant gains in productivity and impact.
Johnson has extensive experience in research management and higher education, including more than 16 years with Washington University in St. Louis and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She is a leader in national research organizations including the Federal Demonstration Partnership, the Council on Government Relations and the National Council of University Research Administrators. She earned her Ph.D. in humanities and German studies from Stanford University and an MBA from Washington University.
David Paterson, Assistant Vice President for Research Translation and Commercialization
David Paterson focuses his work in the translation and commercialization of research. He works to expand industry sponsored research and relations, reviews and improves CSU industry engagement procedures and provides guidance to CSU research facilities and colleges in cultivating new industry-related partnerships.
Paterson has experience in academia, technology transfer and research and business and corporate development. Prior to CSU, he served as the vice president for out-partnering and alliance management and vice president of brand alliance management at Impax Laboratories where he established global industry partnerships. He also served as the director of U.S. academic liaison at GlaxoSmithKline, where he created research alliances and collaborations. Paterson holds a Ph.D. in plant biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s degree in botany from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
Dr. Heather Pidcoke, Chief Medical Research Officer
Email: hpidcoke@colostate.edu
Dr. Heather Pidcoke leads the effort to enhance clinical and translational research support in recognition that CSU’s investigators are increasingly engaged in translating discoveries and applied sciences to human health solutions.
Dr. Pidcoke’s research interests include trauma critical care, novel transfusion products and biologics aimed at improving the resuscitation of massively bleeding patients. She was awarded a U.S. Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service in recognition of her contributions in advancing medical research for military personnel. She also received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy which is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Dr. Pidcoke earned a Doctor of Medicine from Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, a Doctor of Philosophy and a Master of Science at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.
Meghan Suter, Assistant Vice President for Research Administration and Operations
Email: meghan.suter@colostate.edu
Meghan Suter supports research administration, research development, research analytics and legislative affairs activities within the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Prior, Suter served as the founding director of CSU’s research acceleration office, working closely with faculty, researchers, students, staff and university senior administration to create a proactive research culture on campus and to promote excellence along the entire extramural funding life cycle. She has more than 15 years of experience in technology research, development, translation and commercialization. Prior to joining CSU, she worked as a senior research engineer at Ohio State University, where her efforts focused on agricultural waste conversion technologies and bioproduct cluster development. In the private sector, she founded and provided technical leadership to several startup companies focused on bioproduct commercialization, ranging from the creation of drug-eluting contact lenses to bio-asphalt made from swine manure. She holds a doctorate and a bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering from Case Western Reserve University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, respectively.
Sam F. Halabi serves as the senior associate vice president for health policy and ethics and is a professor at the Colorado School of Public Health and the department of political science in the College of Liberal Arts. He is a senior scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University and serves as an affiliate researcher at its Center for Global Health Science and Security.
Halabi’s research career has focused on the ethical, legal and regulatory dimensions of biomedical innovation and collaboration, especially in the context of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response. His work is published in the Georgetown Law Journal, the Harvard International Law Journal, JAMA, the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and the Yale Journal of International Law. Halabi’s honors include the 2020 Husch Blackwell Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2017-18 Fulbright Canada Research Chair in health law, policy and ethics, a British Marshall scholarship and a Rotary International Ambassadorial scholarship. Halabi holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard University, a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford and two bachelor’s degrees from Kansas State University.