Vanderbilt names Kuriyan dean of Basic Sciences for second term

John Kuriyan will return to the top of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences for a second five-year term. Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver announced the reappointment on Sunday. Kuriyan, the Mary Geddes Stahlman Chair and University Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Cell and Developmental Biology, will start his new term on Jan. 1, 2028. His current appointment concludes on Dec. 31, 2027.

Raver cited Kuriyan’s scientific vision and leadership as the reasons for the renewal. She noted that external reviewers praised his work unanimously. Raver stated that Kuriyan has been a transformative force for Vanderbilt. "I am pleased to renew his appointment as dean," Raver said.

Kuriyan has served as dean since January 2023. During that time, he guided the school through a difficult period for federal research funding. The school stabilized its finances without furloughs, salary freezes, or layoffs. The number of research proposals submitted and awards received continued to grow under his direction.

Kuriyan has recruited new scientific leaders and invested in junior faculty development. He created the Vanderbilt Institute for Therapeutic Advances to link chemical and structural biology with Vanderbilt Health. "I am delighted to have the opportunity to continue serving as dean of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences," Kuriyan said. He expressed gratitude to the faculty, staff, and trainees who supported his first term.

Kuriyan’s research focuses on cellular signal transduction and DNA replication. His laboratory determines the three-dimensional structures of proteins. The group studies how tyrosine kinases turn on and off. These enzymes include the Src family kinases, the Abl kinase, and the epidermal growth factor receptor. Their work helped explain how Novartis drugs Gleevec and Scemblix block the Abl kinase that causes leukemia.

Kuriyan earned his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. He joined the faculty at The Rockefeller University in 1987 and became a full professor in 1993. He moved to the University of California, Berkeley, in 2001, where he served as a Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and Chemistry. He was an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for 32 years, from 1990 until he joined Vanderbilt.

He has received multiple honors for his scientific contributions. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2001, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2018. The Royal Society of London elected him a foreign member in 2015. Juniata College, his alma mater, awarded him an honorary doctor of humane letters in 2014.