Posts classified under: Advisory Board Members

Stephen T. Smale is a molecular immunologist and biochemist who arrived at UCLA in 1990 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology within the UCLA School of Medicine. In 1999, he was promoted to Professor and, in 2014, to Distinguished Professor, in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, which spans the UCLA College of Letters and Science and the David Geffen School of Medicine. From 1990 to 2007, he was also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Dr. Smale graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornell University, with Honors and Distinction in Chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Tjian. He then was a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation postdoctoral fellow with Nobelist Dr. David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute, MIT. At UCLA, Dr. Smale previously served as Vice Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, Director of Basic and Translational Research for the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Program, Co-Director of the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, and founding Chair of the School of Medicine’s Research Initiative in Immunity, Inflammation, infection, and Transplantation (I3T). He currently serves as Vice Dean for Research in the David Geffen School of Medicine. The research in Dr. Smale’s laboratory focuses on gene regulation during inflammatory and innate immune responses and during lymphocyte development and leukemogenesis.

Tracy Johnson is the Maria Rowena Ross Chair of Cell Biology and Biochemistry. Dr. Johnson moved from UC San Diego to UCLA in 2013 to join the faculty in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. She earned her B.A. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from UCSD, her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Berkeley, and was a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) where she studied the mechanisms of RNA splicing with John Abelson. Dr. Johnson’s research is focused on the mechanisms of eukaryotic RNA processing, particularly pre-messenger RNA splicing. Her lab has most recently been interested in the coordination of these reactions with RNA synthesis and chromatin modification. Dr. Johnson is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and serves on a number of scientific boards and federal Grant Review panels. In 2013, she received the UCSD Chancellor’s Associates Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and in 2013 was selected as one of the Top 20 Women Professors in California. In 2014, Dr. Johnson was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. As one of 15 leading scientist-educators, the distinction recognizes leadership in research and education, and provides $1 million over five years to create innovative activities that integrate research with undergraduate education.