Dr. Mark Magnuson
Senior Associate Dean for Research
Louise B. McGavock Chair and Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Cell and Developmental Biology, and Medicine
Mark Magnuson is a distinguished physician-scientist and research leader whose career at Vanderbilt spans nearly four decades. As Senior Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, Magnuson brings a wealth of institutional knowledge and scientific leadership to this critical role. He currently directs the Vanderbilt Center for Stem Cell Biology and the Vanderbilt Genome Editing Resource, the widely used and highly collaborative research core supporting investigators across Vanderbilt and beyond.
Magnuson previously served as Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research and Director of the Office of Biomedical Sciences, where he helped establish the foundational policies and procedures that guide today’s research core operations. His administrative service has also included roles such as Chair of the Vanderbilt Institutional Human Pluripotent Cell Research Oversight Committee, Member of the Executive Committee of the Executive Faculty, and Co-Chair of major faculty search committees.
At the national level, Magnuson served as Chair of both the Executive and Steering Committees for the NIH/NIDDK-funded Beta Cell Biology Consortium for more than a decade. In recognition of his leadership, he received a Special Award from the NIDDK in 2014. He has served on numerous NIH review panels and advisory boards, as well as committees for the JDRF, ADA, and HHMI.
As a scientist, Magnuson has published more than 260 research articles—garnering over 42,000 citations—and has made foundational contributions to our understanding of pancreatic β-cell biology, diabetes, and gene regulation. His lab employs mouse models and CRISPR genome editing to investigate how metabolic stress leads to pancreatic β-cell failure and how gene regulatory networks establish endocrine identity. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Magnuson earned his M.D. from the University of Iowa in 1979, completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Rochester, and trained in molecular endocrinology at the NIH. He joined Vanderbilt’s faculty in 1987 following clinical and molecular endocrinology training at VUMC.