Wendi Yajnik has been building partnerships between academia and industry for the better part of her career. When it comes to emerging technologies, she’s seen it all – from cancer-fighting immunotherapies to gene editing tools to an approach to fat loss inspired by ice pops.

Now at Novartis, Yajnik heads Academic Partnerships and External Innovation for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). Her team is responsible for bringing exciting new discoveries and technologies into Novartis from academia. Their efforts are helping drive NIBR’s strategy to build an …