ANN ARBOR—The Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan has named a 15-member external advisory board of leading figures from science and industry to guide its operations. The board includes distinguished academic researchers and leaders of health science companies who will meet annually to review and guide the institute’s scientific and financial operations. Chairing the group will be Ronnie Cresswell, who was formerly a senior vice president of Warner Lambert Co. and the chairman of Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research in Ann Arbor. "The Life Sciences Institute is a bold step forward by the University of Michigan," Cresswell said. "It’s exciting for me to help lead this effort to blaze a new trail in biomedical research. We’ve assembled a really stellar group of advisors and I’m looking forward to working with them on this vital project." Alan Saltiel, Director of the Life Sciences Institute, is also looking forward to working with this advisory board. "We’ve recruited a spectacular group of advisors. I am excited that each has agreed to lend their expertise to our venture. They will keep us focused on the forefront of science and ensure that we remain connected to the broader community in both the public and private sector" The $100-million U-M Life Sciences Institute building opens this fall as a new, free-standing research unit of the university. The Institute eventually will house 25 to 30 research teams working in the areas of molecular and cellular biology, genetics, genomics and proteomics, and structural, chemical and computational biology. Faculty recruitment was launched this summer with the appointment of six preeminent scientists from the University working in a variety of scientific disciplines. For more on the institute, visit lifesciences.umich.edu/institute

Life Sciences Institute External Advisory Board Ronnie Cresswell, D.Sc. – chairman
Retired senior vice president of Warner Lambert Co. and the chairman of Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research in Ann Arbor. He now serves on several boards and is president of a biotechnology company called Albachem in his native Scotland. Keith Black, M.D. *
Director, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute and Division of Neurosurgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. Black is revolutionizing the treatment of brain cancers with a protein he discovered that selectively exposes brain tumors to chemotherapy. Sir William Castell
Chief executive, Amersham plc, Buckinghamshire, UK. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000 for his services to the life sciences industry. Peter B. Corr, Ph.D.
Senior vice president, Science and Technology, Pfizer Inc. Global Research and Development, New London, Conn. He heads worldwide research and development for Pfizer and is also responsible for worldwide licensing and science policy. He was president of Pharmaceutical Research and Development at Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert and previously, professor of medicine and pharmacology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Corr has published more than 160 papers on heart disease. Pedro Cuatrecasas, M.D.
Retired president, Parke Davis/Warner Lambert Pharmaceutical Research Division. A former NIH researcher and currently professor of pharmacology and medicine at the University of California, San Diego, Cuatrecasas spent most of his career in the pharmaceutical industry and was responsible for introducing over 50 new chemical entities to the market. He has authored more than 400 publications. Jack E. Dixon, Ph.D.
Dean for scientific affairs, University of California, San Diego. As chair of biological chemistry at U-M, Dixon served on the commission that charted the course of the Life Sciences Initiative and later became founding director of the Life Sciences Institute. Jennifer A Doudna, Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and professor of molecular and cell biology, University of California, Berkeley. Doudna studies the role of RNA as a catalyst and in protein translation and trafficking. Richard P. Lifton, M.D. Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Sterling Professor of Genetics and Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. Lifton has used genetic approaches to define the genes and pathways that underlie common human diseases such as hypertension, kidney disease and osteoporosis. Harvey F. Lodish, Ph.D.
Whitehead Institute member, professor of biology and bioengineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. A cell biologist, Lodish is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute and several biotechnology companies, including Genzyme and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. He’s currently working on hematopoietic stem cells—very rare, adult stem cells capable of generating all the blood and immune cells of the body. Paul M. Meister *
Vice chairman, Fisher Scientific International, Inc., Hampton, New Hampshire. Fisher is an international supplier of more than 600,000 products and services including scientific instruments and equipment, clinical consumables, diagnostic reagents, safety and clean room supplies and laboratory equipment and workstations with more than $2.8 billion in sales last year. Randy W. Schekman, Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, professor of molecular and cell biology, University of California, Berkeley. A winner of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, Schekman studies the cellular machinery of protein transport in yeast and is the past president of the American Society for Cell Biology. Christopher T. Walsh, Ph.D.
Hamilton Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston. Walsh studies the structure and function of enzymes. He is formerly the president of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and serves on the board of directors of the Whitehead Institute and is a scientific advisor to a half-dozen biotechnology companies. B. Joseph White, Ph.D. *
Managing director, Fred Alger Management Company, New York. White is a former U-M professor of business administration, dean of the Business School and interim president of the University. Tadataka Yamada, M.D.
Chairman, Research and Development, GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Yamada is a gastroenterologist who is formerly chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine and physician-in-chief at the University of Michigan. He is also a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

* Denotes U-M Alumni

lifesciences.umich.edu/institute