Spotlight

Dr. Charmaine Richman
Intellectual Property Administrator, SAIC-Frederick, Inc.

Spotlight Archive

Within the field of science exist many opportunities. At the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the bench work paves the way for scientists to explore how our lives can be made better through research into cancer and AIDS.

But what of those scientists who choose alternate routes, other ways to put their time and talents to work for the betterment of research at the NCI? These people, too, contribute to the NCI mission in helping reach these goals. One person who has chosen an alternate path within the scientific community is Dr. Charmaine Richman. She is the Intellectual Property Administrator for SAIC-Frederick, Inc., and works closely with SAIC-Frederick employees who support the NCI labs at Ft. Detrick.

In order to know just what Dr. Richman does as Intellectual Property Administrator, one must first know what intellectual property is. It is defined as "creations of the mind," or creations or ideas embodied in a form that can be shared or can enable others to recreate, emulate, or manufacture them. There are four ways to protect intellectual property: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. As an employee of SAIC-Frederick, Dr. Richman works closely with scientists from both SAIC-Frederick and NCI-Frederick. This, she explains, is mainly because all intellectual property developed by SAIC-Frederick employees will be assigned to the federal government.  When intellectual property is developed, that's when Dr. Richman's job begins. She guides the SAIC-Frederick employee toward decisions that will protect the work and at the same time meet all the government requirements.

"All inventions must be reported to the government," Dr. Richman explained. "It is my job to educate SAIC-Frederick employees about the requirements and to help them determine the procedures that must be taken and forms that must be filed to protect them and their work. I help guide the process, and then NCI makes the final decisions as to whether patent protection is called for. I also help monitor sub-contracts to make sure the appropriate patent rights and rights in data clauses are included. And, when conflict of interest questions arise, I can generally assist in mitigating the conflict of interest."

Science was actually a second career choice for Dr. Richman. Born and raised in southeast Africa, she graduated with a Bachelor of Dental Science from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and practiced dentistry in Malawi and Palau for six years. After meeting and marrying an American, she moved to the United States where she obtained her Ph.D. from Loma Linda University. She took a postdoctoral position in 2000 at NCI-Frederick. Dr. Richman says she "worked at the bench for two years, and then found myself being motivated toward the desk. I wasn't sure I wanted to be a senior investigator and didn't feel I had the dedication it took to be a scientist, many of whom work 24/7. I felt I needed to balance my work and my family, and I felt that my family responsibilities were important enough to look for a different direction," she said.

While attending the 2001 NCI-Frederick retreat at Rocky Gap near Cumberland, Dr. Richman met and talked with two staff members of NCI's Technology Transfer Branch. "I talked with Associate Chief Tom Stackhouse and Senior Advisor Jeff Thomas, and the work their group was doing made a big impression on me. There was a fellowship open and I was looking. I was fortunate to get that fellowship, and found an office of professionals who were congenial and supportive. It was a great atmosphere in which to learn, and I was extremely happy working there."

Technology transfer, she explains, involves sharing knowledge and materials among different entities, a concept widely used in the scientific community. It means that scientists who work in federal laboratories, industrial and university laboratories, and state and local governments, are encouraged to share knowledge through transactional agreements such as material transfer agreements (MTAs), confidential disclosure agreements, licenses, and cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs). Dr. Richman found that even though she was no longer taking a hands-on approach to science by working in the laboratory, she was contributing to the mission in a helpful way. After completing her fellowship, she began looking for a permanent job using these new skills.

However, NCI had a hiring freeze on. "As luck would have it, SAIC-Frederick was looking to hire an Intellectual Property Administrator in the Contracts and Administration directorate, working directly for the director, David F. Bufter, doing much the same work I had been doing in technology transfer. I took the job, and I've never been sorry," she says.  "It's a great company to work for, and the fact that it is employee-owned, gives one a special sense of pride."

"Curing cancer, developing vaccines, reducing the suffering and death from cancer by the year 2015, and finding a cure for AIDS—those are NCI's main objectives. I am here to facilitate the scientific research so scientists can work on these priorities. I want to provide the best service I can, and at SAIC-Frederick, we try to always provide what the customer needs. Everyone who works here wants to work here, and that makes for an enthusiastic and pleasant environment."

For more information about a fellowship in technology transfer, go to http://ttb.nci.nih.gov/jobs.html or http://ott.od.nih.gov/career.html . For information about alternate careers, go to http://felcom.nih.gov/About/ or http://fellowship.nci.nih.gov/. 

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