Rana Quraishi was going to be a scientist.

Her mother was a psychologist and her father, who specialized in pesticide toxicology, worked for the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health.

Quraishi pursued the family profession, as was expected, but didn't want a career in a lab or classroom like her parents. Instead she found her own niche in the field.

As director of new ventures at University of Maryland, Baltimore, Quraishi works with researchers and entrepreneurs to advance technology discovered in university labs to a point where it can be turned into a company.

In those days you were in the lab, you published papers. Now it's becoming so much cooler," Quraishi said. "I love the interaction between science and being able to make a tangible change in the world."

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