George McLendon

Dr. McLendon currently serves as the Vice President of Therapeutic Research and Development at Carolinas HealthCare System.  Dr. McLendon has co-founded several medical research companies and was the founding co-director of TMCx, the largest biomedical start-up accelerator.  He served as the Howard R. Hughes Provostand Professor of Chemistry for Rice University, 2010-2015.

McLendon’s research is focused on inorganic and physical biochemistry. He has published over 200 peer reviewed papers and received national research awards, including the American Chemistry Society Pure Chemistry Award, the Eli Lily Award in Biochemistry, Sloan, Dreyfus, and Guggenheim Fellowships. His publications range from solar nanotechnology to cell death pathways. His most recent research has direct implications for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases.  He has been involved in launching several biotech startups, including Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals. Most recently, he has expanded to K-12 STEMeducation with spinouts of STEMscopes™and STEAMtrax, which together serve over 1.5 million students.

A Texas native, he received his BS from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1972 and his Ph.D. from Texas A&M in 1976. He also taught at the University of Rochester, where he was the Tracy H. Harris Professor of Chemistry and professor of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine.