Upstate Medical University

Staff

Kathi Durdon, MA, CCRP

Kathi Durdon, MA, CCRP

CNY Biotech Accelerator, a NYS Certified Business Incubator
Executive Director

Kathi Durdon, MA, CCRP, is the Executive Director for CNYBAC, a Division of SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. Kathi supports the Accelerator's strategic objectives in supporting biotech for-profit start-up companies and early innovators. As Executive Director she develops and promotes collaborative opportunities, service and mentor programs, management of the Annual Commercializing Biotech Innovation Conference and Medical Device Innovation Challenge as well as serving on the CNYBAC Advisory Board.

Kathi is also a medical device innovation mentor in regulatory and human factors/usability-related areas.  Kathi is a Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP) and has presented at several medical device, regulatory and clinical research-related conferences. She chairs the annual SoCRA Medical Device Conference and is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Human Factors Engineering Committee. Kathi holds Bachelors degrees in English and Anthropology from SUNY Potsdam College as well as a Master of Arts degree from SUNY Empire State College. Previously, Kathi was employed at Welch Allyn, a medical device manufacturer, as Manager of Clinical Operations.

Contact: durdonk@upstate.edu | 315-464-9290

Dave Amberg

Dave Amberg

CNY Biotech Accelerator
VP for Research, Upstate Medical University

David received his B.A. in Biology/Chemistry from Whitman College in 1983 graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. After a brief stint in Biotech at Immunex Corporation in Seattle, Washington he pursued his Ph.D. at Dartmouth Medical School in Biochemistry graduating in 1992. The title of his Ph.D. thesis was “Isolation and characterization of essential genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae required for the efficient nucleocytoplasmic trafficking of mRNA.” Dr. Amberg then moved to Stanford School of Medicine. His post-doctoral work focused on structure/function studies of novel actin binding proteins. His work on the cytoskeleton continued in his own lab when he moved to SUNY Upstate Medical University in 1996 where he has been promoted through the ranks to professor in 2008. In 2004 he received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, in 2009 he was named Jacobsen Scholar, in 2011 he received the President’s Award for Excellence and Leadership in Research, and, in 2012 the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. His administrative service at SUNY Upstate has included serving as the Associate Vice President of Research Integrity, the Research Integrity Officer, Research Conflict of Interest Officer. He served as Vice President for Research at SUNY Upstate Medical University and as the SUNY Research Foundation Operations Manager since July of 2014.  In 2018 Dave Amberg was elected Interim President at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Leadership Positions: July 2018 Interim President, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Dec. 2014 Vice President for Research, SUNY Upstate Medical University July 2014 Interim Vice President for Research, SUNY Upstate Medical University 2013-2014 Associate Vice President of Research Integrity, SUNY Upstate Medical University 2013-2014 Research Conflict of Interest Officer, SUNY Upstate Medical University 2011-2013 Assistant Vice President of Research Integrity, SUNY Upstate Medical University 2011-2014 Research Integrity Officer, SUNY Upstate Medical University 2009-2011 Chair, Graduate Program Committee, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Contact:  ambergd@upstate.edu | 315-464-4513