Staff Associate Program

Philosophy

Maintaining a venue for promising but risky ventures has become especially important as the mainstream research system increasingly selects for projects that extend accepted wisdom, rather than challenge it.

With regularity, Staff Associates question accepted dogma, venture in new directions, and pursue unproved, risk-prone projects long enough for hidden merits to be revealed. Staff Associates are independent junior faculty members who hold non-renewable faculty level appointments for up to five years. They may be appointed in lieu of or after completing a regular postdoctoral fellowship. It is a time for these young scientists to build a research program with no distractions.

Staff Associates work at the bench in their own laboratory space, often with the help of a technician or summer student. While pursuing their research goals, Staff Associates remain closely connected to the Department, attending seminars and lab meetings with faculty groups of their choice.

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Former Staff Associates

		Pat Gearhart 1979-1981 Senior Investigator, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health

		Steve McKnight 1979-1981 Professor; Distinguished Chair in Basic Biomedical Research, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

		Rick Rotundo 1982-1984 Professor, Cell Biology & Anatomy, University of Miami

		Sondra Lazarowitz 1983-1990 Professor, Plant Pathology, Cornell University

		Martin Snider 1983-1985 Associate Professor, Biochemistry; Vice Chair for Education, Case Western Reserve University

		David Schwartz 1985-1989 Kellett Professor of Chemistry and Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison

			Phil Beachy 1985-1989 The Ernest and Amelia Gallo Professor in the School of Medicine; Professor of Urology, of Developmental Biology, and by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine

			Andy Fire 1986-1989 Staff Member, Carnegie Embryology, 1989-2003; Professor, Departments of Pathology and Genetics; Stanford University School of Medicine 2003-1989; Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine, 2006.

			Se-Jin Lee 1989-1991 Professor Emeritus, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

			Denise Montell 1989-1992 Duggan Professor; Distinguished Professor, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara

			Nipam Patel 1991-1995 Director, Marine Biological Laboratory

			Catherine Thompson 1992-1996 Consultant, CCThompson Consulting

			Susan Dymecki 1993-1998 Professor, Genetics, Harvard Medical School

			Pernille Rørth 1995-1998 Novelist; former Research Director, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*Star

			Alejandro Sánchez 1996-2002 Investigator, Developmental Genetics and Cell Biology, The Stowers Institute for Medical Research; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

			Jimo Borjigin 1998-2003 Associate Professor, Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Associate Professor, Neurology, University of Michigan

			Erika Matunis 1998-2003 Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

			Terence Murphy 1999-2005 Project Researcher, NCBI, National Institutes of Health

			Jim Wilhelm 2000-2006 Associate Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, San Diego

			Alex Schreiber 2003-2008 Associate Professor of Biology; R. Sheldon and Virginia H. Johnson Chair in the Sciences, St. Lawrence University

			Judith Yanowitz 2003-2009 Associate Professor, OB/GYN and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Magee-Womens Research Institute

			David MacPherson 2005-2012 Assistant Member, Human Biology Division; Assistant Member, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutch

			Jeffrey Han 2006-2013 Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Tulane University Health Sciences Center

			Christoph Lepper 2011-2018 Assistant Professor, Physiology and Cell Biology The Ohio State University College of Medicine

			Zhao Zhang (ZZ) 2014-2019 Assistant Professor, Duke University School of Medicine