The Jackson Laboratory Names Dr. Richard P. Woychik as New Director
| Date: June 2002 | 
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Bar Harbor, Maine - After an international search, The Jackson Laboratory has named its next director: Dr. Richard P. Woychik, a world-renowned geneticist with a background in both academia and industry. Dr. Woychik will take over the directorship from Dr. Ken Paigen, who has served the Laboratory for the past 13 years.
Donald A. Stern, chairman of The Jackson Laboratory's Board of Governing Trustees and leader of the search committee, states, "We are very enthusiastic about our choice. Rick understands and is a strong believer in the central importance of the mouse in biomedical research. He brings strong people and managerial skills along with his academic and business achievements. Very importantly, he loves the Lab and embraces its combined mission of world-class scientific research, the supply of critical resources to the scientific community, and the training and education of scientists both young and experienced. He is thrilled by the opportunity to help lead the Lab forward."
Dr. Woychik is presently Chief Scientific Officer for Lynx Therapeutics in the San Francisco Bay area. "It is both an honor and a very great challenge," he says, " to be asked to lead one of the worldÃs great scientific institutions. I'm very conscious that I am being called to lead The Jackson Laboratory's growth, making possible even greater contributions to human health. I look forward to working with the Lab community, the town of Bar Harbor and the state of Maine, as well as the Lab's worldwide scientific community."
The selection of Dr. Woychik as the new director is pending formal approval at the Laboratory's annual meeting in Bar Harbor on August 17.
Dr. Woychik's distinguished career has included positions at the Parke-Davis Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Alameda, Calif.; Vice-Chairman for Research in the Department of Pediatrics, and professor in the Departments of Genetics, Pharmacology and Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; and Senior Researcher and Head of the Office of Functional Genomics at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn. Dr. Woychik holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University.
The author of more than 80 published scientific papers and recipient of many awards, Dr. Woychik's wide-ranging research interests include the molecular genetics of obesity/insulin-dependent diabetes, hearing loss and polycystic kidney disease. He is an active member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology and the Society for Developmental Biology, as well as many national scientific committees. He is married to Janice Woychik and has an 11-year-old son, Alexander.
Dr. Harold Varmus, president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and former director of the National Institutes of Health, cites Dr. Woychik's "distinguished record of innovative and important biological work." Dr. Varmus, a member of The Jackson Laboratory's Corporation, adds, "His energetic style and scientific depth should serve the Laboratory--and the scientific community that the Laboratory serves--very well for many years."
Dr. Woychik already has many friends and collaborators on the Laboratory's staff, and has been a member of The Jackson Laboratory's Board of Scientific Overseers since 1999. BSO Chairman Dr. Stuart Orkin describes Woychik as "a switch hitter: a talented mouse geneticist and a seasoned administrator who combines academic and pharmaceutical experience." He adds, "The future of The Jackson Laboratory is strengthened by having Rick Woychik as its next director."
"This is a very exciting appointment," says Princeton University President Dr. Shirley Tilghman, a member of the Laboratory's Board of Governing Trustees. "Rick is both a distinguished scientist and a forward-thinking leader."
Dr. Paigen, the Laboratory's director since May 1989, announced his decision to step down as director and initiate the search process in October 1999. "It was my goal for our Laboratory to take our time and find the right person. I'm delighted with the outcome of that careful search, and look forward over the coming years to seeing Rick lead the Laboratory to ever greater achievement."
The transition to a new director is taking place during a period of unprecedented growth at The Jackson Laboratory. During Dr. Paigen's tenure, the genetic and computer revolutions--combined with the rise of the mouse as the primary biomedical research model for human diseases and disorders--have brought the Laboratory to world prominence both as a center for genetics research and as a key provider of genetically defined mice and databases to the international scientific community.
Since 1989 the Laboratory's budget and federal research grants have both quadrupled, to $114 million and $50 million respectively, and its staff has doubled to more than 1,200 employees. With 34 research groups studying a wide range of diseases and disorders, as well as development, aging, and bioinformatics, the Laboratory is the world's largest mammalian genetics research institution.
Contact(s): Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058, joyce@jax.org
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