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Geisel Professor Named a 2022 National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Charles L. Sentman, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, has been named a 2022 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Charles Sentman
Charles L. Sentman, PhD

The NAI Fellows Program highlights inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Election as a NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors.

The 169 NAI Fellows named today hail from 110 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes worldwide and collectively hold over 5,000 issued U.S. patents. To date, NAI Fellows hold more than 58,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated over 13,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created more than one million jobs. In addition, over $3 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.

“It is an honor to be elected as a NAI Fellow. Dartmouth and Geisel have created a very supportive environment that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship. I will always be grateful for the support and collaboration from my colleagues, fellows, and students as we have pursued new therapeutic strategies,” says Dr. Sentman, who joins Charles R. Sullivan, PhD, professor of engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering, as the two representatives from Dartmouth in the 2022 Fellow class.

Dr. Sentman, who joined the Dartmouth faculty in 2001, serves as director of the Center for Synthetic Immunity at Geisel, and is a member of the Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program at the Dartmouth Cancer Center.

His teaching and research are focused on strategies to harness the immune system through novel cell and protein engineering for treatment of cancer, inflammatory, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Sentman is recognized for his work on innovative approaches using immune cell receptors and their ligands (molecules that bind to other often larger molecules) as the basis for therapeutics.

He has 24 issued U.S. patents, 19 granted foreign patents from 10 countries, five additional pending applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Dr. Sentman was a scientific founder of Oncyte, a company focused on cancer immunotherapy, which was acquired in 2015 by Celyad. He is a co-founder of Black Bear Bio, which is focused on adoptive cell immunotherapy for neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases, including ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.

The 2022 class of Fellows will be inducted at the Fellows Induction Ceremony at the 12th Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Inventors on June 27, 2023 in Washington, DC.

About the National Academy of Inventors

The National Academy of Inventors is a member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The NAI has a close partnership with the USPTO and is one of three honorific organizations, along with the National Medals and National Inventors Hall of Fame, working closely with the USPTO on many discovery and innovation support initiatives. The NAI publishes the multidisciplinary journal Technology and Innovation.

About the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Founded in 1797, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth strives to improve the lives of the communities it serves through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The Geisel School of Medicine is renowned for its leadership in medical education, healthcare policy and delivery science, biomedical research, global health, and in creating innovations that improve lives worldwide. As one of America’s leading medical schools, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of diverse leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in healthcare.