UB Partners Day Honors Housing 'Venture Capitalist' and Pharmacy Faculty Entrepreneur

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A University at Buffalo community partnership that is bringing $28 million in affordable housing and new jobs this year to Buffalo and a new technology that could take the "ouch" out of checking blood sugar were honored today at UB Partners Day in the Adam's Mark Hotel in Buffalo.

George M. Hezel, JD, clinical professor of law in the UB Law School and director of its Affordable Housing Clinic, received the inaugural University Community Partners Award, while Jerome J. Schentag, PharmD, professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, received the Faculty Entrepreneur Award for his numerous contributions to medical device companies in Western New York.

The University Community Partners Award was established to honor UB faculty members and community partners whose joint efforts positively impact the community while advancing UB's research, teaching and service missions. It was given jointly to Hezel and the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Erie County, Hezel's community partner. L. Nathan Hare, CAO's president and chief executive officer, accepted the award for CAO.

During the past 22 years, Hezel has worked with the community to bring more than $200 million in private equity and federal funding to develop over 2,000 units of new or entirely renovated, affordable housing in Buffalo.

"This year, we had an embarrassment of riches," noted Hezel, who describes himself and his colleagues as housing "venture capitalists." "We applied for three projects, and all were funded for a total of $28 million."

The federal funds, which were administered through the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, will result in 106 new or completely renovated housing units, many of which are designed for households that earn less than half the region's median income.

One of them, St. Martin Village on the city's East Side, includes new construction and renovations on the site of the Diocesan Education Campus at 564 Dodge St. in Buffalo. It is the product of Hezel's partnership with the CAO.

"We are taking blight out of these neighborhoods, bringing money -- and jobs -- into the area, and creating wealth," Hezel said. "At the same time, we are giving UB Law School students a first-hand look at how financing is cobbled together to make affordable housing possible."

Schentag received the UB Faculty Entrepreneur Award, which recognizes faculty who demonstrate the vision and perseverance to translate their discoveries and inventions into products that save lives, relieve suffering or otherwise improve the well-being of individuals and communities.

Schentag was honored for his contributions to inventing, patenting and commercializing pharmaceutical technologies related to improving ways to monitor patient's reactions to medications.

Currently, Schentag is chief executive officer of TheraSyn Sensors Inc., a UB startup company focused on developing a non-invasive glucose sensor device.

Based in UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, the company is developing this technology, among others, based on research on powerful sensors conducted by Frank V. Bright, PhD, UB and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and A. Conger Goodyear Professor of Chemistry.

Bright's research in the field of metabolomics, originally funded by Buffalo's John R. Oishei Foundation, was aimed at designing sensors that could detect diseases or disease states based on the highly complex odors that humans emit from their mouths and noses.

TheraSyn Sensors has licensed that technology from UB to commercialize it.

"We are developing a breath test for glucose," says Schentag, "so that instead of using a finger-stick, diabetes patients could breathe into a device when they want to know what their blood sugar is."

Schentag says that the company hopes to begin clinical trials on the device within a few months and that it soon will be seeking volunteers.

The company has a goal of obtaining Food and Drug Administration approval and marketing the product by the end of 2011.

Schentag was a co-inventor of the initial patents and technology that formed the startup company Gastrotarget, whose assets were sold to what is now SmartPill Corporation.

Schentag also is chief executive officer of CPL Associates LLC in Amherst, which provides clinical research and development services to the pharmaceutical industry.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.