Paul Cherukuri is the University of Virginia's chief innovation officer and the Donna and Richard Tadler University Professor of Entrepreneurship. He also holds faculty appointments in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the McIntire School of Commerce.

Cherukuri leads UVA Innovates, the pan-University platform launched in 2024 to foster innovation and entrepreneurship among students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners.

Previously, Cherukuri served as the inaugural vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer at Rice University.

A physicist, chemist and medical technology entrepreneur, Cherukuri brings experience in academia, industry, and start-ups. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Kentucky and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Rice.

Before returning to Rice in 2014, Cherukuri was a visiting scholar in chemistry at Harvard University and in Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He was also a co-founder and chief technical officer of MAReNIR Technologies LLC and a senior scientist at Sanofi, where he developed drug products and biomedical devices.