Appointment of Kelsey Martin as Interim Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

To: Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Vice Chancellors, Vice Provosts, and Faculty and Staff in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dear Colleagues:

In keeping with the plan to separate the roles of vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, I am pleased to announce that Professor Kelsey Martin has agreed to serve as interim dean of the Geffen School of Medicine, effective September 1, 2015. Reporting to me for budget and academic issues and to Vice Chancellor John Mazziotta for clinical issues, interim Dean Martin will provide strategic vision for and operational leadership of the school, conceiving and managing policy, programs and resource allocation to achieve its mission.

A member of the UCLA faculty since 1999, Dr. Martin is professor of biological chemistry and of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences. From 2005 to 2013, she served as co-director of the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, and from 2010 to 2015, she served as the chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry. Earlier this year, she was named executive vice dean and associate vice chancellor at the Geffen School of Medicine. In addition to her administrative role, Professor Martin is the principal investigator of a molecular neurobiology research laboratory that integrates cell biological, molecular and electrophysiological approaches to understand how experience changes brain connectivity to store memories. Outside UCLA, she is a senior fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus, and she serves on the editorial board of Cell, the advisory committee of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards for Medical Scientists, the selection committee of the McKnight Scholar Awards and the board of directors of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience.

Professor Martin is the recipient of many honors, including a W.M. Keck Foundation Distinguished Young Scholar in Medical Research Program Award, Jordi Folch-Pi Award from the American Society for Neurochemistry, Daniel X. Freedman Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), McKnight Scholar Award, Klingenstein Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences and NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grant. She received an A.B. in English, American language and literature from Harvard University and then spent two and one-half years as a Peace Corps volunteer, leading health and disease-prevention efforts in remote villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This experience inspired her to pursue M.D./Ph.D. training at Yale University, where she studied molecular biophysics and biochemistry. She completed her postdoctoral training in neurobiology with Dr. Eric Kandel at Columbia University.

Chancellor Block, Vice Chancellor Mazziotta and I very much appreciate Kelsey’s willingness to be of service to the medical school and UCLA by assuming this leadership position. Please join us in welcoming her to this new role.

Soon, I will form a search committee to identify candidates for a permanent dean, and I will keep you informed as we initiate the search.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost