Monday, February 15, 2021 Share The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) this week announced it has selected three University of Pittsburgh professors among 61 academic inventors for the 2021 class of NAI senior members. They are: Michael Lotze, professor in the Department of Surgery Kacey Marra, professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery NAI senior members are active faculty, scientists and administrators from NAI member institutions who have demonstrated remarkable innovation producing technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society. They also have growing success in patents, licensing and commercialization. “I want to congratulate Drs. Brown, Lotze and Marra on joining an exclusive society of academic inventors,” said Evan Facher, vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship at Pitt and director of the Innovation Institute. “They all have demonstrated exceptional commitment to achieving impact for their research through commercial translation. Importantly, they have years of innovating ahead of them. We look forward to helping bring more of those discoveries to market where they can make a difference in people’s lives.”