UW News

May 9, 2002

New faces in School of Medicine office: Research and Industry Relations Support will handle outside employment, research contracts, policies on conflict of interest

Claire Dietz
HS News & Community Relations


The School of Medicine’s Office of Research and Graduate Education has recently completed reorganization of a unit focusing on outside professional employment for faculty members, research contracts and conflict-of-interest policies. The unit is known as Research and Industry Relations Support. In addition, Susan Wray, the office’s new director of industry relations, has been hired and is expected to start the week of May 13.


On March 1, Michael Corn became the School of Medicine’s director of research and industry relations support. Corn first came to the UW in 2000 as senior assistant to the vice provost for research.



In his new role, he reports to Dr. Albert Berger, associate dean for research and graduate education, and reviews and approves requests for professional outside employment on behalf of the school. He will also continue reviewing and advising on research-related conflict-of-interest issues, ethics law compliance, and various policies, as well as a wide range of other legal matters relating to research, contracts and technology transfer.



For several years, Corn served as secretary and general counsel of UTILX Corporation, a publicly owned, technology-based underground drilling company, where he practiced corporate, securities and intellectual property law.



More recently he was general counsel for Digital Control Inc., a privately-held electronics company. Earlier in his career, Corn was employed at Portland State University in Oregon for a number of years, where he served as the executive assistant and assistant to the president for legal affairs. He has also been engaged in the private practice of law in Washington and Oregon, handling both litigation and business matters for clients. He is a member of both the Washington and Oregon bars and is a graduate of Reed College and Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, both in Portland.



Jen Otner has now joined the staff as program coordinator. A graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., she most recently worked as half of the legal and compliance unit for a local investment firm. She will be handling many of the day-to-day contacts for the office, including inquiries about the Outside Professional Work Policy, research-related conflict-of-interest issues (related to form GIM 10), and coordinating the work of the office with School of Medicine departmental administrators. She will also manage the Externship Program for graduate students in the interdisciplinary Molecular and Cellular Biology Program.



Corn can be contacted at 206-616-8222 or mcorn@u.washington.edu and Otner at 221-5807 or jotner@u.washington.edu