Biography

Ami D. Gadhia, J.D., LL.M., C.L.P.,  serves as a senior technology transfer and patenting specialist in NCATS' Office of Strategic Alliances, where she facilitates the collaborations of NCATS scientists. She drafts, negotiates and executes various agreements, documenting the terms of joint research and development projects that provide for the disposition of various parties’ rights to intellectual property and that permit the interchange of scientific and technical personnel. Gadhia launched her technology transfer career at Johns Hopkins University in 2007, serving in positions of increasing responsibility and leadership until 2016. As a portfolio director for technology licensing at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, she led a team of licensing professionals and managed her own docket of technologies. Her teams spanned cross-functional divisions, including medical devices, imaging and licensee compliance. Gadhia served as a liaison for technology transfer/ventures to groups across the university. Prior to working at Hopkins, she was in private practice at a law firm in Baltimore, Maryland. She prosecuted patents for individual entrepreneurs, companies ranging in size from start-ups to large corporations, and governmental agencies. Gadhia also handled trademark and copyright prosecution, licensing and intellectual property (IP) litigation.

Gadhia earned her Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and her juris doctorate, both with honors, from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. During her time at Wayne State, she held intern positions in the environmental engineering and IP departments of the Ford Motor Company. She also completed a master’s in IP law at the George Washington University Law School. During her post-graduate studies, she performed policy work at a D.C. think tank dedicated to promoting economic growth in developing countries through the establishment and enforcement of IP rights.

Gadhia has authored various articles and spoken at many industry conferences. She is a certified licensing professional, is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

During a Dec. 3, 2024, podcast — The Transfer Files: Inside the World of Federal Innovation — Gadhia discussed how she and Krishna (Balki) Balakrishnan, Ph.D., M.B.A., explore the groundbreaking work NCATS is doing to tackle one of the biggest challenges in healthcare: making drug discovery and development faster, more efficient and accessible for rare diseases. Tune in to learn How NCATS Accelerates Drug Discovery and Development.

Professional Interests

Gadhia has served as the NIH Technology Development and Transfer Committee vice chair, and then chair from 2017 to 2018, respectively. Most recently, Gadhia was elected as one of the Federal Lab Consortium Board Members and served from 2019 to 2021.