Kenneth Blank, Ph.D.

Dr. Blank has been a director of the Science Center since 2010. He is a demonstrated innovative, agile and effective leader in building high impact, sustainable use-inspired research programs in all academic environments to support diverse new revenue streams, with a proven ability to engage industry, mission oriented government agencies, and universities in productive collaboration that form the basis for key alliances that both increase funded research to support the development of new emerging technologies and contribute to successful technology commercialization, technology park development, and workforce-related education programs.

Dr. Blank has held senior research leadership positions in national universities ranked in the top 100 by U.S. News and World Report, successfully increasing metrics in research revenue, technology commercialization, and technology incubator/tech park development. Dr. Blank is also an esteemed molecular pathologist and cancer researcher.

In 2013, Dr. Blank was appointed as Rowan University’s first Vice President for Health Sciences, with responsibility for leading the integration of the School of Osteopathic Medicine, based in Stratford, New Jersey, into the university. The inaugural class of the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University started in 2012, and under Dr. Blank’s leadership Rowan joined Michigan State University as the only two institutions in the entire country to operate both M.D. and D.O. degree-granting medical schools. From 2014 to 2018, Dr. Blank served as Senior Vice President for Health Sciences. He also served as a Professor of Biology at Rowan. Prior to joining Rowan, Dr. Blank served as Senior Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education at Temple University. Previously, Dr. Blank served as Vice Provost for Research and Professor of Biology and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Northeastern University, and as Vice Provost for Research and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Drexel University.

Dr. Blank holds several patents, has received numerous grants and contracts from such organizations as the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, and has published and presented extensively on a variety of topics.

Dr. Blank serves on the board of the New Jersey Innovation Institute (Newark, NJ) and is a Fellow of The National Academy of Inventors and The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He also serves on the board of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.

He received a B.A. from New York University and a Ph.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.