Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology, has been appointed vice chancellor for research, effective July 1.
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton made the announcement.
“I want to thank the search committee, chaired by Professor Martin Israel, for bringing so many outstanding candidates for consideration,” Wrighton said. “We had an excellent group of candidates, and I am pleased to be able to appoint Professor Sam Stanley.
“Professor Stanley is a highly respected faculty member with a great record of achievement in research. Recently, Professor Stanley has emerged as a national leader in connection with his work on biodefense research, and he is well prepared to encourage interdisciplinary research initiatives.
“Assuring that the policies and procedures associated with our research enterprise remain robust and effective is an important responsibility for the vice chancellor for research, and I am confident that Professor Stanley will be a leader in this regard,” Wrighton continued. “He is committed to serving the University and all of its faculty and will be an important advocate for our research mission. I am looking forward to working with him as a member of the leadership team.”
Stanley will succeed Theodore J. Cicero, Ph.D., who announced last year his intention to step down from the position after holding it since 1996. Cicero, professor of psychiatry and of anatomy and neurobiology, will return full-time to his research in the medical school’s Department of Psychiatry.
He is a leading researcher on the hormonal and neurobiological impacts of frequently abused drugs such as opiates.
“Professor Cicero has served exceedingly well as vice chancellor for research for nearly 10 years,” Wrighton said. “He has been tireless in his efforts to strengthen our policies and procedures and has emerged as a national leader respected around the country for his work.
“Ted has done much to benefit the University, and I am grateful for his wonderful work. I will miss working with him, but it is rewarding that he will resume his full-time commitment to his professorial responsibilities, and I know that he will continue to be a valuable member of our academic community.”
In his new role, Stanley will be an officer of Washington University and a member of the University Council.
“I am honored to take on this role and serve this great university’s research mission in a new way,” Stanley said. “I greatly appreciate the confidence shown in me by Chancellor Wrighton and the members of the team who advised him on this selection.
“Research at Washington University is an extraordinary enterprise with global impact, and I look forward to working with our deans and department heads and with our talented faculty to continue to push for excellence in all our research endeavors.
“Additionally, I am fortunate to assume these responsibilities at a time when great organizational efficiencies and research-support programs already have been established under the leadership of Ted Cicero, and will benefit from the opportunity to work even more closely with him over the next several months,” Stanley added.
Stanley will be the chief officer responsible for the University’s research missions, overseeing an enterprise that generates more than $500 million for sponsored research from a wide array of funding sources. He will become the University’s institutional official responsible for all compliance programs that oversee the University community’s adherence to guidelines governing laboratory animal care and use and research involving human volunteers.
His areas of oversight will also include development of research policies, management of grants and contracts, the continuing education of faculty and staff regarding research regulations, issues related to conflict of interest and research integrity, and intellectual property and technology transfer.
In order to meet these expansive duties, Stanley will work closely with the deans, department heads, center directors, senior faculty and administrators as well as a wide variety of faculty and staff who are engaged in research or research support on the University’s campuses.
Stanley has been a member of the WUSTL community since 1983, when he began a fellowship in infectious diseases at the School of Medicine. He rose through the ranks in the school’s Department of Medicine to become professor of medicine in 1999. In 2004, he was appointed professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology, recognizing the collaborative and interdepartmental nature of his research.
Key administrative appointments boosted his involvement and interest in research administration, particularly his service as the first chairman of the Institutional Chemical and Biological Safety Committee, which deals with challenging issues such as gene therapy and research protocols using highly regulated materials. Stanley also led a committee that formulated a health safety policy for WUSTL faculty and staff who handled laboratory animals.
A Seattle native, Stanley earned a bachelor of arts degree in biological sciences (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Chicago and earned a medical degree from Harvard University in 1980. He completed his resident-physician training at Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.
Stanley, who has had long-running and substantial research support from the federal government’s National Institutes of Health, is an expert in the biological mechanisms cells employ when responding to infectious agents such as parasites, bacteria and viruses — a process commonly called the inflammatory response. Better defense against infection is a key focus of his research.
He has recently begun to focus on specific genetic factors that might make serious side effects more common in some persons receiving vaccines.
Among the several research grants that Stanley leads or contributes to is the nearly $37 million grant from the NIH to create the Midwest Regional Center for Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, based at WUSTL. The multi-institutional center is developing methods to rapidly identify new pathogens and find means to control or neutralize them.