D. Graeme Thomas, former executive director of Saint Louis University’s Research Innovation Group, passed away on August 11 at the age of 86. Thomas joined SLU in 2011 as the director of the Office of Technology Management and later became the executive director of the Research Innovation Group following a reorganization in 2017.
As executive director, Thomas played a key role in commercializing SLU research products, managing intellectual property protection, contract management, and industry collaboration. Ray Tait, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychiatry and former Vice President of Research at SLU, remarked on Thomas’s impact: “When he was hired to run the Office of Technology Management, he inherited an office in disarray with little recognition among University faculty nor the St. Louis community at large,” Tait said. “Because of his prior work in the start-up community, he immediately brought recognition to the broader community.”
Thomas contributed significantly to startup businesses based on SLU research and development. These included companies working on treatments for fibrotic disease (Indalo Therapeutics, Inc.), non-opioid pain relief (BioIntervene Inc.), and HSV and fungal infections as well as hepatitis B (Casterbridge Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). He also worked on drugs for rare diseases like MPS VII enzyme deficiencies and FSHD muscular dystrophies.
Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at SLU, expressed her admiration for Thomas: “Graeme was a close colleague and friend,” Salvemini said. “He supported our endeavors to commercialize our technologies… Graeme was a kind man and will be terribly missed.”
Thomas led several initiatives within SLU including a joint-venture CRO focused on PK/PD studies (Gateway Laboratories) and repositioned ongoing drug development programs formerly conducted within CWHM. He promoted sponsored research initiatives and managed funded research innovation projects along with overseeing MEDLaunch.
Ray Tait further commented: “With his passing we have lost a true gentleman and scholar…”
Born December 9, 1938, in Melbourne, Australia, Thomas completed higher education at Melbourne University as well as Macquarie University and RMIT University. Before joining SLU he held leadership roles at Sherwood Medical among others.
