SUBJECT:  Dean for Scientific Affairs - Health Sciences

Jack Dixon, Ph.D., director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan and one of the world's leading biological chemists, has accepted our offer to serve as Dean for Scientific Affairs, Health Sciences beginning February 1, 2003. He will also hold faculty appointments as Professor of Pharmacology, and of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

I couldn't be more delighted for UCSD and the San Diego community to welcome Dr. Dixon to San Diego. A National Academy of Science member, Dr. Dixon has been a pioneer in the study of proteins and their function, with a focus on a family of proteins called phosphotases that play a key role in cellular response to molecular signals. His work has helped define a broad range of signaling actions, including the role of specific phosphotases in cancer and tumor suppression, and in cellular response to bacterial toxins, which has direct implications for biological warfare research.

He is not only an extraordinary scientist, he is also a visionary and a leader. He has a unique ability to see the big picture and bring people from diverse disciplines together so that one plus one equals something much greater than two. I expect Jack to quickly engage in this robust research community, helping to help forge new collaborations and working to enhance the ongoing efforts that make this region the national leader in multidisciplinary research programs.

In a sense he is returning home. He earned his B.A. at UCLA, his Ph.D. at UC Santa Barbara, and conducted postdoctoral fellowship training at UCSD in the laboratory of the late Nathan Kaplan. He fills a position previously held by George Palade, M.D., who served as UCSD's first Dean of Scientific Affairs, Health Sciences, from 1990 until his recent retirement, with Gordon Gill, M.D., serving in an interim role over the past year.

As Dean, Dr. Dixon will oversee research initiatives of the Health Sciences, supporting ongoing programs and leading the design and implementation of new initiatives both internally and with partners outside of the university. He will continue to run his own research laboratory, with a number of members of his Michigan team relocating to San Diego. He has published over 250 peer reviewed articles over the course of his career and is considered a superb instructor and mentor for students and post-graduate trainees. His research funding includes an NIH MERIT Award.

Dr. Dixon began his faculty career at Purdue University in 1973, leaving Purdue in 1991 to become Chair of Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan, where he also is the Minor J. Coon Professor of Biological Chemistry as well as Director of the Life Sciences Institute.

In addition to his NAS membership, he is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also former president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which has awarded him the 2003 William Rose Award for outstanding contributions to biochemical and molecular biological research and a demonstrated commitment to training younger scientists.

                                                Edward W. Holmes, M.D.
                                                Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences
                                                Dean, School of Medicine