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Kara E. Leong

Executive Director of the Integrative Center for Alternative Meat & Protein

Kara Leong is the Executive Director of the recently launched UC Davis Integrative Center for Alternative Meat & Protein (iCAMP). iCAMP leads the way in developing transformative knowledge and innovation to accelerate the commercialization of alternative proteins and sustainably fulfill all global need predicted by 2050. The center is the largest academic body developing plant, fungal and cell-based meat/proteins and consists of +50 cross-disciplinary researchers from UC Davis, UCLA, US Department of Agriculture, University of Maryland Baltimore County and the Culinary Institute of America.

Kara was the Executive Director and co-founded the UC Davis Cultivated Meat Consortium (CMC) established in 2019. The CMC is the first academic consortia in cell-based meat research and the first program to receive state and federal funding support. The CMC is now housed within iCAMP. Kara’s primary work is to strategically leverage and grow iCAMP’s recognition and positioning by building strategic partnerships, strengthening industry relations, establishing research collaborations, engaging with the public, and fundraising. In addition, she supports student activities, workforce/technical training, entrepreneurial development, and overall organization management.

Previously, Kara was Chief of Staff for the Singapore based alternative dairy protein company, TurtleTree where she coordinated strategic partnerships, communications, investor engagement, R&D operations, product manufacturing, launch and brand promotion events. Before TurtleTree, Kara was a Development Director for the UC Davis Office of Research where she was the primary external relations and fundraising support for InnovationAccess (University Intellectual Property Program), Venture Catalyst (University Startup Program), Gene Therapy Center, Biotechnology Program, Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, Feminist Research Center, and the Institute for Global Nutrition. Kara has also been a research scientist at Biosource Technologies, Inc, Empire Farms Research and the USDA working on viral geneware for pharmaceutical protein production, developing tissue culture production systems and analyzing microbiome compositions in industry vineyards and wine fermentations.

Kara has a Master’s in Viticulture and Enology, a BSLA in Landscape Architecture, and a BS in Plant Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Davis. Additionally, she sits on the Food and Ag Council for the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, the Advisory Board for the Future Food Tech Summit, and the Good Food Institute APAC Advisory Council.

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