Leadership

John Kuriyan – Dean of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences

John Kuriyan earned his Ph.D. in 1986 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working under the supervision of Gregory A. Petsko and Martin Karplus (Harvard University). After a brief period of postdoctoral training with Petsko and Karplus, Kuriyan was appointed to the faculty of The Rockefeller University in 1987. He was promoted to full professor at The Rockefeller University in 1993. In 2001 Kuriyan moved to The University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and Chemistry and as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, having been appointed in 1990.

Kuriyan’s research concerns the workings of the enzymes and molecular switches that carry out cellular signal transduction and DNA replication. His laboratory determines the three-dimensional structures of proteins, as well as biochemical, biophysical, and cell biological analyses to elucidate how they work. Breakthroughs from his lab have included determining the mechanisms by which several tyrosine kinases, including Src family kinases, the Abl kinase, and the epidermal growth factor receptor, switch on and off. These tyrosine kinases are enzymes that are very important targets of drug development in cancer. Fundamental insights obtained in the Kuriyan lab have been instrumental in understanding how drugs, such as Gleevec (imatinib) and Scemblix (asciminib), both developed by Novartis, are effective in shutting down the leukemia-causing form of the Abl tyrosine kinase. The Kuriyan lab has also provided a fundamental understanding of the structure and regulation of several other signaling proteins, including STATs, the Ras activator SOS, and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II. The group has also made fundamental contributions to understanding the structural basis for high-speed DNA replication.

Kuriyan’s achievements in science have been recognized by several honors. He was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2001, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008, a Foreign Member of The Royal Society of London in 2015, and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine in 2018. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, by his alma mater, Juniata College, Huntington, PA, in 2014. He has also received several prizes, including the Stein and Moore Award and the DuPont-Merck Award of the Protein Society, in 2017 and 1997, respectively, the Merck Award of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2009, the Richard Lounsbery Award of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2005, the Cornelius Rhoads Memorial Award of the American Association for Cancer Research in 1999, the Eli Lilly Award of the American Chemical Society in 1998, and the Schering-Plough Award of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1994. Kuriyan was a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences from 1989 to1993.

Charles Sanders – Vice Dean of Basic Sciences

Charles “Chuck” Sanders has been on the faculty of the biochemistry department since 2002 and is an active member of the Center for Structural Biology.

Sanders’ research interests focus on the role of membrane proteins, especially those with flexible or unfolded structures, in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and neurologic disorders. Sanders has won many awards for his research, including the Hans Neurath Award of the Protein Society and the Stanley Cohen Award of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Sanders has been a very active participant on research committees at Vanderbilt (e.g., as co-chair of the TIPs review panel) and has served on multiple NIH study sections. He was associate editor of the journal Biochemistry from 2004 to 2015 and was interim editor-in-chief from 2015 to 2016.

Kathleen Gould – Senior Associate Dean for Biomedical Research Education and Training

Kathleen L. Gould, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and holds a Louise B. McGavock endowed faculty chair. Dr. Gould received her A.B. degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. She was then a Fellow of the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research at the University of Oxford. After joining the Vanderbilt faculty, Dr. Gould received the Boehringer-Ingelheim New Investigator Award, the Searle Scholar Award, and was an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1994-2013. Elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011, Dr. Gould is also a member of several national professional societies and journal editorial boards, and she serves regularly as reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and the National Academies Ford Foundation. Her achievements have also been recognized with the SEC Faculty Achievement Award and the Vanderbilt Earl Sutherland Prize.

Dr. Gould runs an internationally recognized research program that has made fundamental, pioneering discoveries in the mechanisms that control cell division using a multi-disciplinary approach that includes super-resolution microscopy, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, genetics, structural biology, and biochemistry. In her laboratory, Dr. Gould has trained over 60 undergraduate students, many who have gone on to attend graduate or medical schools, and 50 pre-doctoral and postdoctoral scientists.

Dr. Gould has served in multiple leadership roles at Vanderbilt University including Interim and Vice Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. She is currently Senior Associate Dean for Biomedical Research Education and Training in the School of Medicine. In this capacity, Dr. Gould is helping to shape institutional and national strategies to enhance and broaden training of biomedical pre- and post-doctoral fellows so that they are prepared to enter the biomedical workforce of the future.

Alyssa Hasty – Associate Dean for Faculty

Alyssa Hasty has been a member of the faculty in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics since 2003, and has been an investigator of the Tennessee Valley Veteran’s Administration Research Institute since 2014. She is an active member of the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center and the Digestive Diseases Research Center.

Hasty’s research interests are in diabetes and obesity, most recently focusing on the role of macrophages in promoting inflammation and insulin resistance in obesity. Hasty has been very active in mentoring students as director of graduate studies in MPB, and mentoring faculty as director of career development of the DDRC and as chair of the Women on Track steering committee. She is also Faculty Head of House of Murray House. Hasty completed the Hedwingam van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program at Drexel University.

Claudia Paz – Chief Business Officer, Associate Dean for Finance and Administration

Claudia Paz serves as the primary business advisor to the dean of Basic Sciences.

Paz joined Vanderbilt University in 2019. She has an engineering degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and received a master of science in finance from Florida International University.

Vivian Gama – Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusive Mentoring

Since joining Vanderbilt Vivian Gama’s work has focused on the molecular principles governing organelle remodeling as a driver of cellular transitions during neurogenesis, a process by which neurons develop in the brain. Gama, who attained tenure in 2020, has pioneered the use of pluripotent stem cell systems to understand the pathophysiology of rare, incurable mitochondrial and peroxisomal diseases with the goal of uncovering new therapeutic targets. Her research program has been funded by several grants including an R35 ESI MIRA from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and a Brain Initiative Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. In 2023 she was selected as a Chancellor Faculty Fellow for her outstanding research and mentoring.

Gama’s personal experiences, such as coming to the United States from Bogotá, Colombia, and her mentors (notably Deshmukh during her time at UNC) played a major role in her career trajectory. Her background motivates and inspires her own interactions with trainees and staff, especially in building her laboratory, to have a holistic approach to mentorship. She considers each laboratory member’s background and specific needs to achieve their goals so they can succeed now and in the future.

Amy Major – Faculty Director for Immersion Vanderbilt for the School of Medicine

Amy Major joined Vanderbilt’s faculty in 2002. The broad research focus of the Major laboratory is to understand immunological mechanisms of cardiovascular disease, specifically atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the number-one cause of mortality in developed countries, and it is known that both lipids and immunity play significant roles. Work performed in her laboratory has significantly impacted our understanding of how the immune system modulates atherosclerosis, as well as how dyslipidemia and the atherosclerotic environment influence normal immune function.