Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Ph.D., has been chosen to head the Department of Developmental Biology at the School of Medicine.
Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, announced the appointment, effective Jan.1, 2010.
“Lila is a visionary scientist and outstanding leader who will reach across departments and schools to build the strongest possible developmental biology department,” Shapiro said. “I am confident that with her guidance, this department will continue to be at the forefront of research that is redefining how we think about human disease and how best to treat it.”
Solnica-Krezel is the University Professor and the Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of Developmental Genetics at Vanderbilt University. She also is a professor of biological sciences, of pediatrics and of cell and developmental biology.
“I am honored by the invitation to head the new Department of Developmental Biology at Washington University, which has superb traditions in the area of developmental neurobiology and embryology,” Solnica-Krezel said. “It is a particularly opportune time for developmental biology research as recent technological breakthroughs in the animal model systems afford insights into human embryonic development. We are discovering that many of the adult human diseases have their origins during embryogenesis, while studies of stem cells and regeneration are bringing us closer to curing human diseases and pushing boundaries of aging. I am thrilled about joining the excellent group of developmental biologists at Washington University and working with them to shape the future of the department.”
The molecular biology and pharmacology department became the developmental biology department in 2007. The change reflected a shift in the department’s research focus from embryonic development, aging, regenerative biology and physiology to an organism’s development through life.
As head of the Department of Developmental Biology, Solnica-Krezel succeeds interim head David M. Ornitz, M.D., Ph.D., who has held the position since October 2004. Ornitz will return to his full-time research and teaching responsibilities.
“As an internationally regarded scientist and key member of the department for more than 17 years, David was the ideal person to guide the department through its renaming and its recent shift in focus,” Shapiro said. “He has done a tremendous job and has ensured the department’s success.”
Solnica-Krezel earned a master’s degree in molecular biology from Warsaw University in Poland in 1985 and a doctorate in oncology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research in 1991.
She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental genetics in 1995 at Harvard Medical School, where she helped to initiate and carry out the first large-scale genetic screen for mutations affecting zebrafish embryonic development.
Solnica-Krezel studies the molecular and genetic mechanisms that control the early development of vertebrate animals. She has studied this process in zebrafish, using a combination of genetic analysis with embryological and molecular methods.