Derek Savage is a graduate of Princeton University (1969) and the Georgetown University Law Center (1974). He was in private practice in Baltimore from 1975-1980 with the firm of Anderson, Coe, and King, defending a wide variety of law suits.
Derek began his work in higher education law in 1980 when he joined the Educational Affairs Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. From 1980- 1985, he represented the University of Maryland College Park, the University of Maryland at Baltimore, Morgan State University, and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He provided a complete range of legal services for these institutions, including defending all of Maryland’s public colleges and universities in court and in disputes with the Federal Government.
In 1985, Derek began working in the Johns Hopkins University’s Office of Vice- President and General Counsel as a Senior Attorney. He served for many years as Deputy General Counsel, and twice served as Interim General Counsel, before retiring in January 2016. For many years at Hopkins he was responsible for litigation, and he then focused on serving the School of Medicine in its many activities, both clinical and research related, but especially in sponsored research projects and technology transfer activities, as well as conflict of interest issues.
Derek served on the Board of Directors of NACUA from 1990-1993.
Derek spoke at nearly every Annual Conference for 35 years and at many CLE workshops on a wide variety of topics, including many presentations related to academic medical centers, technology transfer, human subjects research, conflict of interest policies and practices, managing difficult employees, affirmative action plans, and handling disputes with the Federal Government.
In addition, Derek served for many years on the Committee on Program for the Annual Conference and the Committee on Member Services, and he also served on many other committees and task forces.