Azoulay teaches courses on strategy and technology strategy at MIT Sloan. Previously, he was an associate professor of management at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. His research centers on how organizational design and social networks influence the productivity of research and development in the healthcare sector. Currently, Azoulay is studying the impact of superstar researchers on the research productivity of their colleagues in the academic life sciences. He also is interested in the topic of academic entrepreneurship, having recently concluded a major study of the antecedents and consequences of academic patenting. In the past, he has investigated the outsourcing strategies of pharmaceutical firms, in particular the role played by contract research organizations in the clinical trials process. He is a faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.