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Giving
Ehrlich Gift Creates Science and Entrepreneurship Internships
For Chris Ehrlich, making a difference in the world has always meant more than just running successful companies. Inspired by USF’s momentum in the life sciences and its location, Ehrlich and his wife, Sara, have made a generous gift to USF to establish a new internship fund to help students in biology and entrepreneurship access valuable opportunities.
When Chris Ehrlich moved to the Bay Area in 2000, USF wasn’t on his radar, aside from its basketball team. But, that changed when USF Director of Principal Gifts, Kelly Dyke, told him about the university’s growing interest in entrepreneurship — particularly in biotech.
Ehrlich spent three decades leading biotech companies focused on running clinical data, lecturing at Northwestern University on the business of biotech, and serving on entrepreneurship boards to mentor the next generation of innovators.
As momentum built around the new programs taking shape within the university’s Health & Life Sciences building, USF needed experienced leaders to help guide program development.
Ehrlich weighed the options of joining USF’s entrepreneurial advisory board and helping to shape a curriculum for a new biotech-focused program. This fall, Ehrlich will serve as an adjunct professor, launching the introductory Business of Biotechnology course.
Biotech gained momentum in the 1980s and has since experienced rapid growth. USF, located in the heart of the Bay Area, is uniquely positioned to train the next generation of managers and leaders in this sector.
In this region, cutting-edge life science innovation is happening all around USF students,” said Ehrlich. “It gives them direct access to the technologies and companies shaping the future of health.”
Through a generous multi-year gift, Chris and Sara Ehrlich set up an internship fund that will help USF students in science, biology, and bio-entrepreneurship programs access internship opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.
“The goal is to move life science technologies from the bench top to the bedside,” Ehrlich said. “We are putting our blood and treasure to make this happen.”
Ehrlich experienced the power of an internship firsthand. In 1997, during business school, he landed a summer internship at Genentech — the biotech powerhouse in South San Francisco. He calls it “the best summer of my life.”
The experience allowed him to apply his academics in real-world settings, explore his growing passion for science, and build relationships that remain part of his professional network to this day. That internship was pivotal in shaping his career.
Today, Ehrlich helps USF shape a future in which students lead in biotech, life sciences, and health innovation. Through his contributions, advisory board involvement, and belief in the university’s mission, he is working to ensure the next generation of USF students has the tools — and the internship opportunities — to further the science and entrepreneurship sectors.
Learn more about the upcoming Health & Life Sciences Campus.
