Susan Abrahamon, Ph.D., President

Susan Abrahamson received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She post-doc’d at the FDA’s Plant Gene Expression Center in Albany, CA, and at UC Berkeley, concentrating on plant genetics. Susan worked as a scientist at the biotech company XOMA Corporation prior to switching to the field of Intellectual Property. Susan joined the IP team at Chiron/Novartis and then moved to Sangamo Therapeutics to lead its IP department for over ten years. Susan currently is the Director of IP for the Innovative Genomics Institute, driving IP strategy and shepherding its IP through the patenting process. In her spare time, Susan rides her bike, works in her garden and practices playing her guitar.

Melanie Leavitt Cantarutti holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Grinnell College and received her MS in Information Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  She joined UC Berkeley in 2016 first as Dr. Doudna's Senior Project Manager transitioning in 2018 to Chief of Staff for the IGI. Prior to joining Berkeley, Melanie was the Administrative Director for the Business Development department at the Exploratorium. She has lived and worked in Africa, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and is conversant in both Spanish and Italian. She spends much of her free time outside and is a member of the Marin Rowing Association's Master's Team, and a board member of the West Point Inn. 

Contact us!

Please reach out to us!

• susan@innovativegenomicsfoundation.org

• melanie@innovativegenomicsfoundation.org