Verena Kallhoff, PhD, MBA

Dr. Verena Kallhoff is the Senior Director of Global Life Sciences at the Greater Houston Partnership, where she leads strategic initiatives to grow and strengthen the region’s life sciences and biotechnology ecosystems. She works closely with local, state, national, and international stakeholders to support innovation, attract investment, and assist companies seeking to relocate or expand in the Greater Houston area.

Prior to joining the Partnership, Dr. Kallhoff served as Vice President of Omics and Precision Medicine at Equideum Health, a health tech startup. She also held multiple leadership roles at The University of Texas at Austin, including directing The WorkSpaces at Texas Health CoLab, the innovation hub at Dell Medical School. There, she worked with innovators and startups commercializing their technology and developed and led programs to foster regional innovation. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic she became a co-founder of TEXGHS—the Texas Global Health Security Consortium.

Earlier roles include positions at Harris Health System and Houston Methodist Research Institute, where she was the Managing Director of CyBHOR, an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Kallhoff earned her Ph.D. in Molecular and Human Genetics from Baylor College of Medicine and an MBA from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.