Margaret (Ng Thow) Hing, Chief Legal Officer, Legal Affairs & IP, provides support for all legal and contractual matters at LJI with a particular focus on technology transfer activities. Margaret oversees all aspects of La Jolla Institute’s patent portfolio and technology agreements, and supports business development functions. Margaret works with scientific personnel on a daily basis to support their research activities by facilitating access to research tools and technologies, ensuring intellectual property protection of research discoveries and negotiating agreements for funding of research and commercialization of technologies.

Prior to joining the Institute, Margaret was an attorney with Smart & Biggar, Fetherstonhaugh, a leading intellectual property and technology law firm. She advised clients on patent prosecution matters with a focus in the area of biotechnology. Margaret obtained a Master of Science in Molecular & Medical Genetics and J.D. from the University of Toronto, Canada.

As the Intellectual Property Manager at La Jolla Institute, Stephen Pappas is responsible for the daily management of LJI’s patent portfolio. He drafts and prosecutes patent applications, and processes new invention disclosures. Stephen is also responsible for drafting and negotiating agreements for commercial sponsored research projects and collaborations with other academic institutes.

Stephen is a registered patent agent and licensed attorney in the State of California. Before joining the Institute, Stephen was an associate at a San Francisco Bay Area intellectual property law firm. Stephen obtained a Bachelor of Science in microbiology from Purdue University and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law.

Erin Randolph, as the Contract Specialist within Technology Development, is responsible for drafting and negotiating technology transfer agreements and manages the daily administrative operations of Technology Development. She has a background in contract review, communications, and operations.

Before joining LJI, Erin was an Executive Assistant at a major real estate firm and she previously handled marketing for the Bellagio (Las Vegas). Erin received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Management at Western Michigan University.

Prior to joining LJI, Kenia obtained her B.S. in Microbiology and M.S. in Biotechnology from Texas Tech University, and her J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law. She has past experience working as an IP analyst for the Texas Tech Office of Research Commercialization and was also a Graduate Assistant for the Texas Tech Office of Institutional Diversity. While in law school, she interned with the legal counsel departments of several biotechnology and software companies as well as published in the Texas Tech Law’s Journal of Biosecurity, Biosafety and Biodefense Law. We are happy to have Kenia on the team and welcome her to LJI.