Santiago D. Schnell, D.Phil., appointed interim chair of Molecular and Integrative Physiology

Santiago D. Schnell, D.Phil., has been appointed interim chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology in the Medical School, effective August 1. He will assume leadership of the department while a national search is conducted for a permanent chair.

Santiago earned his undergraduate degree from Universidad Simon Bolivar, and his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 2002, and completed a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship at that institution. He was appointed as an assistant professor at Indiana University in 2004, and joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2008 as an associate professor in the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology. In 2013, he was jointly appointed as associate professor in the Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics. He was promoted to professor in both departments in 2015, and was recently named as the John A Jacquez Collegiate Professor of Physiology.

Santiago’s laboratory research effort combines chemical kinetics with mathematical, statistical and computation methods to develop rigorous approaches to measure the rates of biochemical reactions and distinguish their molecular mechanisms under physiological conditions. His focus is on enzyme-catalyzed and aberrant protein-aggregation reactions leading to adverse outcomes, and developing standard-based approaches to measure the rates of biochemical reactions. His work has substantially altered the view of measuring and modeling enzyme-catalyzed reactions within cells, where the environment is heterogeneous and characterized by high macromolecular content.

An internationally renowned computation physiologist, Santiago has 100 peer-reviewed publications, one book, and has received multiple awards in recognition of his research and teaching endeavors. He has remained funded by external and internal sources throughout his career. He served as associate director of the Indiana University Biocomplexity Institute, and is finishing his 2-year term as president of the Society for Mathematical Biology.