Newswise — Dr. Eaton E. Lattman, currently Dean of Research and Graduate Education in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute. Lattman will assume the position on July 1, 2008. A published author in the field of crystallography, he has degrees from Harvard and JHU and at JHU has served as department chair of Biophysics in both the School of Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences.
HWI Chairman Donald A. Hess and HWI President and Nobel Laureate Dr. Herbert A. Hauptman jointly announced the appointment. "We are confident that we are on the brink of an exciting new chapter in HWI's story and that Ed is the best possible choice to lead us to the next phase of growth," Hess said. "During the past decade under Dr George DeTitta's leadership, a strong foundation has been built. HWI is in a new facility, faculty members have been added, George's Center for High-Throughput Crystallization Laboratory is one of the nation's ten Protein Structure Initiative Centers and of course there has been the initiation and growth of UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Structural Biology Department which is housed at HWI and staffed by HWI scientists. Ed can now build on that foundation to accomplish the next steps of growth for HWI which of course will continue to work hand-in-hand with the rest of the BNMC institutions."
"I have known Ed Lattman for more than 30 years. He is not only an acclaimed scientist and leader, but also a great thinker with a reputation among his peers and students as a hands-on mentor and involved colleague," Hauptman said. "We have every expectation that Ed will bring a fresh approach to the institute's future growth."
"The opportunity to lead Hauptman-Woodward excites me because its research profile and direction so closely match my own experience and training," Lattman said. "The post represents a return to my scientific roots. The most important task of the CEO is to help the talented HWI faculty find new research directions and new mechanisms of support, and fine-grained understanding of what they do greatly enables this process."
Also speaking at the press conference were Dr. Donald (Skip) Trump, Roswell Park Cancer Institute CEO and President, Dr. Satish Tripathi, Provost of the University at Buffalo (UB), Dr. David Dunn, UB's Vice President for Health Sciences and Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Board Chair Bill Joyce.
Lattman will oversee all of the institute's business and administration and help its 24 Ph.D.-level faculty members find research support and build on existing collaborations locally, nationally and internationally. Lattman, the sixth CEO in HWI's 52 year history, succeeds Dr. George DeTitta who has led the institute since 1999. DeTitta announced in April 2007 that effective April 2, 2008, he would return full-time to his HWI lab. The institute will be led in the interim by Dr. Walter A. Pangborn.
With the exception of post-doctoral work in the 1970s, Lattman has spent his academic career at JHU, beginning as a graduate student in Biophysics, and rising through the ranks to his current deanship. En route he served as professor of Biophysics in both the Schools of Medicine and of Arts and Sciences. He also served as chair of the department from which he gained his Ph.D. degree. He was instrumental in setting up the Hopkins Institute for Biophysical Research, a unit that has served as a focal point for the dramatic growth of biophysics across JHU. He played a groundbreaking role in the department's history by hiring the first women faculty members in the history of his department, and of being the principal investigator on the Molecular Biophysics NIH Training Grant which was awarded to JHU.
Lattman was editor-in-chief of the journal Proteins for more than 15 years, leading it to a distinguished position in the field. He has served, and continues to serve, on many NIH committees. Notably, he was a member of the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council, and of the NIGMS Advisory Committee on the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI). With Patrick Loll, he is a co-author of the forthcoming book Protein Crystallography: A Concise Guide.
Lattman earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics from Harvard College in 1962, and his Ph.D. in biophysics in 1969 from JHU.
Lattman will reside in Buffalo, New York.
ABOUT HWIWith more 50 years of exceptional scientific research, HWI is an independent, non-profit facility specializing in life-altering research. Our team of more than 70 staff members is committed to improving human health by studying the causes of diseases, as well as potential therapies, at their basic molecular level. We are located in the heart of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus in downtown Buffalo, New York, in a new state-of-the-art structural biology research center at 700 Ellicott Street. For more information, visit HWI's website at www.hwi.buffalo.edu or call 716-898-8600.
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