SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Sandra Schmid has been named as the first Chief Scientific Officer at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a nonprofit research organization setting the standard for collaborative science, where leaders in science and technology come together to drive discovery and support the bold vision, to cure, prevent or manage disease in our children’s lifetime.
The CZ Biohub is also pleased to announce that Dr. Schmid has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for her “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research,” as noted in Monday’s press release by the NAS. “Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.”
Dr. Schmid is a leader in the scientific community, whose cutting-edge research, published in over 150 papers, is directed towards better understanding the cell, a cornerstone of CZ Biohub’s work. Specifically, Dr. Schmid has studied the molecular mechanisms and regulation of clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), characterizing the differential regulation of CME in normal and cancer cells and analyzing the structure and function of the GTPase, dynamin.
She joins the CZ Biohub staff from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, where she served as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology and held the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Schmid’s experience and leadership to the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub,” said Co-President Stephen Quake. “Her shared focus on the disorders of the cell – the root of many of the world’s diseases – is timely as we delve into unanswered questions and support fundamental science focused on cell biology.”
“Existing and emerging pathogens continue to threaten human health worldwide, and the work we’re doing to support and deploy systems to detect infectious disease globally is happening in real time,” Co-President Joe DeRisi said. “Dr. Schmid’s expertise, now acknowledged by her election to the National Academy of Sciences, will add significant value to the Biohub’s efforts.”
“I’m honored to join the Biohub and to be part of such a unique and significant platform,” said incoming inaugural CSO Dr. Sandra Schmid. “A walls-down, hands-on approach to collaborative and impact-oriented research produces good science and good scientists, and I look forward to supporting such promising and purposeful work.”
Dr. Schmid was born in Vancouver, Canada and later pursued graduate studies with Jim Rothman at Stanford University. She was a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow and Lucille P. Markey Scholar with Ira Mellman and Ari Helenius at Yale and moved to The Scripps Research Institute as an Assistant Professor in 1988. She served as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at TSRI from 2000-2012, before being recruited to UTSW. She served as President of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in 2011 and has received numerous awards, including the ASCB Women in Cell Biology Junior and Senior Career Recognition Awards, an NIH MERIT Award and the Arthur Kornberg and Paul Berg Lifetime Achievement Award in Biomedical Sciences.
About the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub is a nonprofit research organization setting the standard for collaborative science, where leaders in science and technology come together to drive discovery and support the bold vision to cure, prevent or manage disease in our children’s lifetime. The CZ Biohub seeks to understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying disease and to develop new technologies that will lead to actionable diagnostics and effective therapies. The CZ Biohub is a regional research endeavor with international reach, where the Bay Area’s leading institutions — the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco — join forces with the CZ Biohub’s innovative internal team to catalyze impact, benefitting people and partnerships around the world. To learn more, visit CZBiohub.org.