Dr. J. Michael Oakes, PhD Senior Vice President for Research and Technology Management, Case Western Reserve University 

Recently named Case Western Reserve University’s inaugural senior vice president for research and technology management, Dr. Oakes oversees all aspects of Case Western Reserve University’s $400+m research enterprise and technology transfer program. He is the Veale Professor of Technology Transfer and Commercialization and Professor of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences in the School of Medicine. Prior to joining Case Western Reserve, Oakes served as the University of Minnesota’s interim vice president for research, leading their $1.1B research enterprise. From 2019 to 2021, Oakes served as associate vice president for research, shepherding a 31% increase in research funding fueled by COVID-19 related grants. Oakes is also founder and director of the Interdisciplinary Research Leaders, a national Robert Wood Johnson Foundationsupported program. Oakes is a social epidemiologist whose research has been highly collaborative, interdisciplinary, and focused on three main areas: applied methodology, social epidemiology, and research ethics. Collaborations include biomanufacturing sciences, computer, material and aeronautic engineering, health care and health sciences, climate change prevention, and social and behavioral research.