The health needs of Kentucky and the country are growing. Over the next several years alone, UK HealthCare anticipates needing an additional 5,000 health professionals to meet the state’s needs.

But in addition to more talent and infrastructure, health care will need an infusion of innovation as well — new technologies and partnerships with providers, health product and service companies, and community stakeholders that will connect the latest advances in medicine, patient care and health care services to more Kentuckians for greater access to advanced care.

Extending innovation further into health care is the goal behind the announcement Thursday that long-time UK expert in innovation and entrepreneurship, Ian McClure, is expanding his role and will serve as vice president of innovation for UK HealthCare, said Eric N. Monday, UK’s co-executive vice president for health affairs.

McClure will additionally maintain his current position as associate vice president for research, innovation and economic impact in the university’s research enterprise, providing further connections for leveraging the impacts of discovery and care.

“Ian is a recognized national leader and expert in innovation and the development and commercialization of intellectual capital,” Monday said. “Health care is a space that will need even greater innovation — whether in our own digital health advancements and technology innovations or through creative partnerships with other providers and health companies — to extend the provision of advanced care to more people. This addition to Ian’s portfolio of responsibilities underscores our commitment to connecting discovery and care and leveraging innovation to meet our growing health system needs with discoveries in our research labs and clinical operations and through external partnerships with providers, technology companies and community organizations to make the advanced care that we expect to provide accessible to more people in our state.”

In McClure’s current role, he oversees UK Innovate and leads efforts to translate UK discoveries for the public good. UK Innovate’s mission is to advance innovation that makes a difference supporting the university’s strategic plan by committing to:

• work cooperatively with innovators and stakeholders to strategically assess, protect and license innovations and intellectual capital for economic and societal impact;

• train, inspire and encourage innovators and stakeholders to achieve research impact;

• cultivate entrepreneurship and support creation of new UK startups;

• help build Kentucky’s innovation ecosystem and collaborate with partners worldwide; and

• expand access to innovation and entrepreneurship for all.

“Our vision is to establish UK HealthCare as an innovation leader and partner-ready enterprise capable of enhancing its ability to perform patient care, conduct research and create health care access through technology, innovation and entrepreneurial partnerships and projects,” McClure said. “UK HealthCare has the opportunity to be an innovation-forward thought leader on a regional and national level, but most importantly in ways that improve the health of the state we serve and seek to advance.”

McClure came to UK in 2016 after serving a number of years in the private sector in a variety of leadership roles around innovation, intellectual property (IP) and entrepreneurship. Most recently, before coming to UK, he was vice president for IP strategy for Black Stone IP, a boutique investment bank headquartered in San Francisco.

McClure began his career as a mergers & acquisitions and IP transactions attorney with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs in Louisville, Kentucky. He also helped build a start-up company in Chicago, with the world’s first financial exchange for IP and technology rights.

McClure continues to lead national innovation and entrepreneurship policy, as an appointed member to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, an expert advisor to the U.S. National Science Foundation, past chair of the board of the Association of University Technology Managers, and a board member for the Center for American Entrepreneurship. He has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous federal grants, including three NIH grants focused on research translation. He has been named one of the “World’s Leading IP Strategists” by IAM Magazine.