Brian R. Stanton, Ph.D. is a consultant on management, intellectual property (IP), and business infrastructure policy matters. Prior to this, he was the Director of the Division of Policy at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Office of Technology Transfer. Dr. Stanton was responsible for IP and technology transfer policy for NIH and the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). Dr. Stanton also spent over a decade at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) where, among other things, he co-authored policy documents including the USPTO’s Utility and Written Description Examination Guidelines. He also participated in trilateral policy studies with the European and Japan Patent Offices (EPO and JP) addressing international patentability standards on subject matter including nucleic acids (genes), life forms, and pharmaceuticals. He also helped develop uniform patentability standards for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and assisted the public in addressing difficult patent, trademark, technology transfer and development issues.

Dr. Stanton champions the balanced use of IP rights that seeks to maximize academic research freedom while preserving the innovation incentives provided by IP systems. While at NIH, he led a revision of the US PHS’s technology transfer policy manual and co-authored numerous licensing policy documents including the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development’s (OECD) guidelines for the licensing of genetic inventions. Dr. Stanton continues to serve as an advisor to numerous governmental and NGO bodies including the IPR Task force of the HHS Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS), Health Canada, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the OECD. As an acknowledged expert on biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and chemical patent law, Dr. Stanton provides consultation on numerous IP matters and their effect on innovation.

Dr. Stanton received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland for his work in molecular oncology performed at the National Cancer Institute’s Frederick Cancer Research and Development Facility. As a post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Stanton pioneered the use of embryonic stem cell technology, generated animal model systems of development and worked to understand the role of cancer genes in animal development.

Dr. Stanton occasionally writes for IPWatchdog.com, and advises IPWatchdog.com on government, life science and innovation matters by way of providing background information to help ensure articles are technically and factually accurate.