Chancellor Names Bluestone as Executive Vice Chancellor, Provost, Pending Approval by Regents

UCSF Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, today announced in an email letter to the campus community that Jeffrey Bluestone, PhD, a renowned immunologist and international leader in immune tolerance research, will become executive vice chancellor and provost with approval by the UC Regents.

Regents will consider the appointment when they meet March 23 through 25 at the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

In his new role, Bluestone will serve as UCSF’s chief academic officer, guiding the research and academic enterprise, working in close collaboration with the chancellor and the leadership team to advance the campus priorities, and overseeing the campus ethics and compliance enterprise.

Bluestone, the A.W. and Mary Clausen Distinguished Professor in Metabolism and Endocrinology at UCSF, joined the UCSF faculty in 2000. He currently directs the UCSF Diabetes Center and the Immune Tolerance Network.

Bluestone will fill the executive vice chancellor role following the departure of Eugene Washington, MD, who left UCSF to become vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine.

Here is the full letter from the chancellor.

February 24, 2010

Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce that Jeffrey Bluestone, Ph.D., has accepted the position of executive vice chancellor and provost effective upon approval by The Regents. In this role, he will serve as UCSF’s chief academic officer, guiding the research and academic enterprise, working in close collaboration with me and the leadership team to advance the campus priorities, and overseeing the campus ethics and compliance enterprise.

During his over 30 years in academic research, he has been a faculty member at the National Institutes of Health and at the University of Chicago. Dr. Bluestone, who joined UCSF in 2000, is a renowned immunologist and leader in immune tolerance research designed to both understand and treat autoimmune diseases and organ transplant rejection. He is currently director of the UCSF Diabetes Center, which is dedicated to the care and treatment of patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes worldwide and to its goal of bringing an end to the disease, and director of the Immune Tolerance Network, a government supported consortium of more than 80 of the world’s leading scientific researchers dedicated to the clinical testing of new therapies for immune tolerance. He is the A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor in Metabolism and Endocrinology. Dr. Bluestone recently served as interim vice chancellor for research, a role in which he excelled at providing timely and effective support to researchers.

Dr. Bluestone’s cutting-edge basic and clinical research has led to the discovery of immunotherapies used to treat autoimmunity and transplant rejection. This remarkable breadth of work has positioned him as an international leader in the field and spokesperson for the rapid discovery and translation of science to clinical practice. His exceptional qualifications as an innovator, successful drug developer, and leader of the largest international consortium for the development of new immune tolerance therapies combined with his administrative experience managing a research lab and the UCSF Diabetes Center, will serve the campus well as he undertakes shaping an innovative university environment for the next decade.

I am excited about his leadership of our research enterprise, his commitment to creativity in how we conduct business in the future, and his understanding of the academic and research environment, including the core values of UCSF, the infrastructure needs for basic and clinical research, faculty reward systems, and opportunities for industry partnership.

Please join me in welcoming Jeff to his new role.

Sincerely,

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH
Chancellor