Dr. McKee is the Interim Director of New Ventures and Partnerships and
Director of UNC KickStart Venture Services at Innovate Carolina. She has over
20 years of research, technology transfer, and innovation management
experience. She began her career as a researcher, completing a BSc in chemistry
from Monterrey Tech, Mexico, and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of
Texas-Austin. Afterwards, she carried out postdoctoral research in
nanotechnology at Oxford University. She transitioned into business, completing
a certification program on the commercialization of scientific research at
Oxford’s Saïd Business School. She then became a consultant and later a senior
consultant in technology transfer for Oxford University Innovation (OUI) in the
UK. After that, Dr. McKee started an innovation management consultancy company
in the US, providing training and supporting the commercialization of
innovative technologies from universities and start-up companies from around
the globe and led business development at Tekcapital Plc., a Miami-based
venture capital firm. She has helped institutions design and implement seed
funds, set-up accelerator programs, and develop strategies that promote
entrepreneurship industry-academia collaboration. Dr. McKee is also a regular
mentor for startups based on university research, helping them improve their
overall business strategy and pitching for investment. At UNC she supports
IP-based startups, helping them improve their overall business strategy,
pitching for investment, and connecting them with entrepreneurs and service
providers.