Dear Colleagues,
Our mission to save and improve lives through clinical care, education and research depends not only on discovery—but on what we do with those discoveries. Breakthroughs in the lab are just the beginning. Transforming them into real-world solutions that benefit patients requires a different set of skills that many scientists are not traditionally trained in.
Thanks to an innovative program developed right here at the MU School of Medicine, that’s changing.
The Biomedical Entrepreneurship Training Program for Aging (BETA), led by Anandhi Upendran, assistant teaching professor for Medical Pharmacology and Physiology in the School of Medicine, is helping early-career scientists gain the tools and knowledge they need to move their research beyond the lab.
The program was established through a $1.8 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is now in its second year of training future scientific entrepreneurs.
Each year, 10 PhD scientists-in-training participate in this immersive, year-long program. In addition to learning how to pitch ideas to industry and investors, participants also gain clinical exposure, working alongside MU Health Care providers who specialize in caring for older adults. This real-world experience gives them critical insight into how their discoveries might one day help patients living with age-related conditions.
Recently, Executive Vice Dean Ross Zafonte and I had the privilege of meeting with several of this year’s BETA participants prior to their graduation from the program on May 22, 2025. It was clear that the program has made a lasting impact—not only by equipping them with a valuable entrepreneurial skill set, but also by reinforcing the purpose behind their research.
We are incredibly proud of Dr. Upendran’s leadership and the success of this program, which is creating a pipeline of scientist-innovators who are ready to bring their ideas to life. As we continue to grow our research enterprise at Mizzou, programs like BETA help ensure that the knowledge we generate truly makes a difference.
This is translational research in action—and it’s happening right here at MU.
Sincerely,
Rick Barohn, MD
Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Hugh E. and Sarah D. Stephenson Dean, School of Medicine
rbarohn@health.missouri.edu
