Allison Ferro

Technology Portfolio Manager

Allison Ferro manages a diverse range of UMN technologies in the biotechnology and medical device space. Allison joined Technology Commercialization in 2019 after almost two decades in the medical device industry. Most recently, she spent nine years managing the intellectual property and early stage technology development for ophthalmic diagnostics at Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. She started her career in product development with jobs at Lumenis and Ellex Medical, where she led the laser development for solid state photocoagulator lasers for ophthalmology. In between, she worked in strategic development at Nellcor Puritan Bennett (now part of Medtronic) evaluating new technologies for acquisition and licensing, and as a patent analyst for IP Checkups, a boutique patent analytics firm.

Allison enjoys working at the intersection of technology, business and law. She is experienced in evaluating early stage technologies, knowledgeable about intellectual property protection strategies, and understands what it takes to turn an idea into a product.

Allison has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry with a Certificate in Optics from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a B.A. in Chemistry from Carleton College.

See a list of available technologies in life sciences.  Technology areas include medical devices, biomedical engineering, and tissue engineering.