Hildebrand-Zanki and Auger Will Lead Initiatives for UCSF Office of Research

UCSF has hired two senior managers to strengthen the University’s research enterprise. Susanne Hildebrand-Zanki will be the new UCSF associate vice chancellor for research, starting on August 1. Hildebrand-Zanki replaces Clifford Roberts, DVM, who has been the interim associate vice chancellor for research since 2006. On June 1, Julie Auger began work as the executive director of the new Research Resource Program at UCSF.

Susanne Hildebrand-Zanki

Hildebrand-Zanki has most recently served as chief financial officer of the Immune Tolerance Network – an international consortium composed of more than 80 of the world’s leading scientific researchers and dedicated to the clinical testing of new therapies for immune tolerance – and also serves as associate director of administration at the UCSF Diabetes Center. She has been at UCSF since 2002, and has served on several campus committees and work groups tasked with improving operational infrastructure.

Hildebrand-Zanki previously was director of the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program in the University of California Office of the President; senior administrative analyst of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at UCLA; and a manager in the human tumor cloning laboratory, also at UCLA.

Hildebrand-Zanki will oversee the operation of the UCSF Office of Technology, Innovation and Industry Partnerships; the Office of Sponsored Research; Administration and Finance; and Core Services. She will report to Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD, executive vice chancellor and provost.

“Susanne has been a key member of the Diabetes Center and Immune Tolerance Network, and as such has provided leadership, administrative expertise and creative thinking to address the challenges of research administration,” Bluestone says. “I am confident that she will bring the same passion and competence to meet challenges in the Office of Research.”

Julie Auger

Auger, who has 20 years of experience in organizational and financial management strategies for scientific operations, comes to UCSF from the University of Chicago, where she was executive director of shared research operations for the Division of Biological Sciences, and also served as associate director of core facilities at the university’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the University of Chicago, Auger helped lead a major overhaul in the organization and administration of research resources; she will lead a similar effort at UCSF.

The development of the Research Resource Program (RRP) at UCSF was listed as a priority in the 2007 Strategic Plan and was approved by the Chancellor’s Executive Committee in early 2009. The RRP will be developed with the strong support of an advisory committee consisting of campus leaders from several organized research units.
Shared core resources at UCSF are not currently managed centrally, but instead are associated with specific research entities.

Senior campus leaders and directors of on-campus research organizations have recognized that greater access, cost savings and efficiencies may be realized through centralized strategic planning and management. The result of such reorganization may also help foster novel research collaborations across disciplines. These collaborations, which are valued highly among many UCSF researchers, are a key to translating basic research discoveries into broader application.

“I have known Julie for over 20 years, first as the director of the University of Chicago flow cytometry and hybridoma facilities, and ultimately as the director of more than 30 cores at the University of Chicago,” Bluestone says. “Julie brings a unique combination of organizational skills and scientific understanding to the job that will help to transform the structure of the cores at UCSF.”

Related Links:

UCSF Appoints Bluestone as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
UCSF News Release, March 25, 2010

Bluestone to Capitalize on New Opportunities to Advance UCSF
UCSF Today, March 25, 2010