When biochemistry professor Harry Steenbock filed to patent a groundbreaking vitamin D-fortification process in 1924, he also sparked the creation of an organization primed to bolster innovation for the next century.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison professor’s achievement increased the accessibility of vitamin D and its health benefits to the general population. At the same time, it created a new approach to bringing life-changing research to market, supporting the university’s work in the process.
Such is the origin story of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), a technology transfer office which, in the past 100 years, has quietly funded, supported and invested in the pioneering work coming out of the UW to benefit the public.