Director, Life Sciences Institute

Invitation to Apply for the Position of DIRECTOR
Life Sciences Institute University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

THE SEARCH
In its next Director, the Life Sciences Institute (LSI/the Institute) of the University of Michigan (UM/the University) seeks a scientist of international distinction to position the LSI as the global pioneer for advancing biomedical research and improving human health.

A world-class, independent, and collaborative research institute, the LSI trains scientists and students at all levels, develops innovative technologies and methods, and fosters active collaborations across the University of Michigan research enterprise. It comprises 27 research groups led by faculty with appointments in academic departments. Working across disciplines, LSI engineers, chemists, biochemists, structural biologists, cell biologists, and geneticists push the boundaries of scientific discovery and advance the understanding of the fundamental principles governing dynamic cellular processes. These groups conduct cutting-edge research that integrates innovative chemical biology approaches, advanced microscopy techniques, computational modeling, structural biology, mechanistic biochemistry, and human genetics to study biochemical pathways, mitigate disease, and develop treatments. In the LSI’s first two decades, researchers have published over 3000 papers and contributed to the development of 16 approved drugs or clinical candidates.

Reporting directly to Provost Laurie K. McCauley, the LSI Director serves as the Institute’s chief representative to the wider UM community as well as the University’s international ambassador and spokesperson for translational application of the life sciences. Leveraging this platform, the next director will shape and drive the frontier in basic science research at Michigan and throughout the national and global research enterprise.

Johanna Neuman and Lionel Anderson of JM Search have been retained to assist in this recruitment. All confidential expressions of interest should be directed to them as indicated at the end of this document.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
The University of Michigan (UM) has a long and distinguished history dedicated to public service and engagement. It was founded in 1817, 20 years before the territory became a state and 45 years before the Morrill Act of 1862 established the modern, public land-grant university system. It was one of the first public universities in the nation, and throughout its 200+ year history, it has maintained the highest levels of distinction in education, scholarship, and research while remaining broadly accessible to a range of students.

The University combines scale with a rare level of scholarly excellence. It consistently ranks among the top three U.S. public universities, and U.S. News and World Report ranks 110 of UM’s graduate programs in the top ten. With over 66,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on three campuses, the breadth and scale of intellectual strength is something that few public or private institutions can match. The University of Michigan is the top public institution for research spending in the United States at $2.04B.

UM is one of the state’s largest employers, with more than 57,000 employees, and is consistently ranked among Michigan’s best employers by Forbes. The Ann Arbor campus attracts an exceptional student body in-state, nationally, and globally, with a record of nearly 109,000 first-year applicants for fall 2025. With more than 682,000 living alumni worldwide, UM takes pride in their generosity and philanthropic spirit.

In alignment with its Look to Michigan Strategic Vision and Campus 2050 plans, the University has launched the Look to Michigan campaign — a historic $7 billion fundraising effort, the largest in UM history and the largest known campaign goal of any public university. The campaign will advance UM’s unique ability to tackle global challenges through life-changing education, health and well-being, democracy, civic and global engagement, and sustainability and climate action. Supported by an endowment of more than $19 billion, UM joins a select group of the most highly endowed institutions, ensuring lasting impact for generations to come.

LIFE SCIENCES INSTITUTE
“Inquisitive minds. Inspiring discoveries.”

The LSI’s mission is to serve as an interdisciplinary hub for collaboration so that biomedical discovery can proceed unimpeded by organizational or disciplinary boundaries. LSI was founded on the notion that progress in the understanding of human health and disease would be accelerated by convening researchers to work at the margins and cross-roads of disciplines including biology, chemistry, genetics, physiology, informatics and physics. Its 26 scientists share not only a building but also a culture of collaboration that encourages connections across labs and across disciplines.

The state-of-the-art discovery tools found within the scientific cores—research centers with specialized expertise and technologies that advance faculty and industry projects—support LSI investigators with cutting-edge technologies; but more than that, the LSI cores also bring hundreds of investigators into the Mary Sue Coleman building, further increasing opportunities for synergy. The cores provide research services in their respective domains to support projects from labs across and outside the University. They encapsulate the concept of normalized excellence, routinely completing complex experiments with enough frequency that they have become second nature.

Historically, LSI’s first challenge was to recruit a first-rate team of scientists from these different fields who preferred to work in a setting with scientists from disciplines outside their own. The second, even more daunting challenge, was to create a culture within and outside of the Institute that could facilitate and support deep engagement across the disciplines.

Its first two cores, the Center for Chemical Genomics (CCG) and the Center for Structural Biology (CSB), launched in 2004, less than a year after the Institute opened. In early 2019, with support from the University of Michigan’s Bioscience Initiative, the Institute established the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility and the Natural Products Discovery Core (NPDC) to expand its strengths in structural biology and drug discovery technologies. In the last decade alone, more than 400 scientists (both internal and external to UM) have capitalized on the expertise and technologies within the cores—and that expertise has helped bring 16 drugs to pre-clinical and clinical development and supported 313 publications.

Internally, the LSI insists on frequent communication and best practices sharing. Weekly workshops afford LSI investigators the space and forum to discuss technical and theoretical scientific problems, research plans, grant applications, and even challenges they face in lab management and teaching. The Institute also hosts a monthly Institute-wide colloquium in which different labs present updates on their projects.

Faculty governance is done by consensus, and a committee of the entire faculty makes most decisions. On matters of hiring and promotion, where the faculty are asked to make critical judgments significantly outside their own fields, deference is given to the opinions of those whose expertise is most relevant. When LSI policies or standards are considered, the different burdens and policies of home departments are taken into account.

ROLE OF THE DIRECTOR
The Life Sciences Institute stands as one of the University of Michigan’s most distinctive academic enterprises, stewarding hundreds of faculty, significant financial resources, and a substantial portion of the University’s research expenditures. Reporting directly to the Provost and working in close coordination with deans and other institute leaders, the Director is uniquely positioned to shape the future of discovery at Michigan. This role carries not only responsibility for advancing the Institute’s foundational strengths in basic science, but also the opportunity to amplify its impact across disciplines and beyond the University’s borders. With the Institute entering its next decade of ascent, the Director will be called upon to champion collaboration, cultivate innovation, and extend Michigan’s leadership in extramural research. In so doing, the Director will be instrumental in advancing the following priorities:

KEY PRIORITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE DIRECTOR
Elevate LSI’s Visibility and Voice
The Life Sciences Institute stands at an exciting inflection point: with a refreshed brand—“Inquisitive minds. Inspiring discoveries.”—and the momentum of its 20th anniversary, the next Director has the opportunity to amplify the Institute’s reputation as a premier destination for discovery science. Building on two decades of achievement, the Director will expand LSI’s presence on campus, across the nation, and around the world, ensuring its work is recognized as both groundbreaking and transformative.

The Director must be both a steward of scientific excellence and a visible advocate for basic science. This includes amplifying the work of LSI’s scientists, tailoring messages to different audiences, and ensuring that the Institute’s story is understood and celebrated by donors, collaborators, and the public. In doing so, the Director will reinforce LSI’s role as a vital voice in advancing the life sciences.

Steward and Expand Resources Strategically
The Director of the Life Sciences Institute will inherit stewardship of substantial financial and operational resources that set the Institute apart among its peers. This independence provides the flexibility to make bold investments in science and people, but also demands vision, discipline, and transparency.

The next leader will be expected to sustain the Institute’s financial strength, renew and refresh investments in core facilities, and pursue new avenues of support. Donors, the Leadership Council, and the Scientific Advisory Board are eager for sharper focus and engagement. By articulating a compelling vision, the Director can galvanize these groups and expand philanthropic and industry partnerships. In an era of uncertainty in federal funding, this responsibility is also an opportunity: to ensure that LSI’s resources continue to serve as a powerful catalyst for discovery and innovation.

Lead at the Scientific Frontiers
The next Director will be expected to keep LSI at the vanguard of discovery by maintaining a keen eye on emerging areas of science and the foresight to invest in them wisely. This role calls for a leader with the curiosity to explore what is next, the discernment to recognize transformative opportunity, and the conviction to act boldly in advancing new directions while sustaining established strengths.

With a pulse on the frontiers—whether in artificial intelligence, computational biology, RNA chemistry, or domains not yet fully imagined—the Director will ensure that LSI remains a place where pioneering ideas can flourish. Success will depend on balancing continuity with renewal: protecting the Institute’s world-class platforms while embracing the next generation of tools and approaches. By doing so, the Director will secure LSI’s role as a leader not only in making discoveries, but in shaping how science itself evolves.

Recruit and Retain World-Class Talent Across Career Stages
The next Director of the Life Sciences Institute will inherit an extraordinary track record of faculty distinction, with six members of the National Academy of Sciences, six Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, multiple Pew and Sloan Scholars, and even a MacArthur Fellow among its ranks. Building on this foundation, the new leader will be charged with extending LSI’s reach by recruiting the very best scientists across career stages. The opportunity is not only to bring nationally recognized leaders to Ann Arbor, but also to nurture early- and mid-career faculty into the next generation of scientific pioneers.

Successful candidates for recruitment will span disciplines, reflecting the LSI ethos of valuing excellence wherever it is found. The Director must demonstrate both discernment and breadth of vision: an ability to recognize transformative science well beyond their own field of expertise. With a robust endowment, strong core facilities, and the resources to compete against coastal institutions, the Director will ensure that LSI remains a magnet for top talent while securing the Institute’s future scientific leadership.

Advance Discovery While Catalyzing Impact
The Life Sciences Institute has earned its reputation as a discovery engine, distinguished by breakthrough contributions that span from fundamental biology to applied innovation. Its faculty have pushed the frontiers of knowledge while also shaping therapies, technologies, and companies that touch lives beyond the laboratory.

The next Director will be charged with sustaining this dual strength: ensuring that LSI remains a sanctuary for bold, curiosity-driven science, while at the same time fostering the conditions for translation when discoveries are ready to make an impact. Opportunities abound—in partnership with Michigan Medicine, Ross’s entrepreneurship programs, and emerging translational hubs across campus. The next Director will also participate in the launch of new efforts to propel entrepreneurial clinical translation and position the University of Michigan as a global leader in life sciences, generative biology, and bio-AI capabilities. The challenge and the promise lie in advancing both sides of this spectrum, positioning LSI as a place where foundational discovery and real-world application are not in competition, but in concert.

Catalyze Collaboration Across Boundaries
The next Director must embrace LSI’s founding spirit as a place where disciplines converge and ideas cross-pollinate. This leader will be expected to cultivate deep, enduring partnerships across the University, ensuring that LSI remains the hub where scientists from medicine, life sciences, engineering, business, public health, and beyond come together to tackle the most compelling questions.

This work calls for creativity and conviction: developing models of collaboration that transcend traditional academic boundaries, building trust with partners across schools and colleges, and fostering a culture where faculty feel fully supported in joint appointments and shared endeavors. By amplifying LSI’s role as a connector, the Director will strengthen the Institute’s identity as Michigan’s catalyst for discovery—an intellectual home where the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.

Foster a Culture of Support, Integrity, and Training
LSI’s culture is one of its most distinctive assets. More than 1,300 students have trained in its laboratories, with alumni going on to careers at institutions such as Yale, Janelia Research Campus, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Programs such as the Aspirnaut pipeline, Rosen Fellows, Perrigo Summer Program, and the new Pioneer Fellows (“super-postdocs”) reflect a deep commitment to preparing the next generation of leaders.

Faculty and trainees alike describe the Institute as supportive, collegial, and focused on what matters most: great science. Long-serving staff members, many of whom have been with LSI since its founding, provide unparalleled administrative support that frees scientists to concentrate on discovery. The next Director will be expected to preserve and enhance this culture—leading with integrity, approachability, and respect. In doing so, the Director will ensure that LSI continues to be not only a place for breakthrough science, but also a community where people thrive.

QUALIFICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS
The Ideal Candidate
The University of Michigan seeks a scientist of international distinction to serve as the next Director of the Life Sciences Institute. The successful candidate will bring the scholarly stature, vision, and leadership to position LSI as one of the world’s leading centers of discovery science. The following qualifications and leadership traits will define the ideal candidate:

Distinguished Scientist
A nationally and internationally recognized scholar with an active, high-impact research program, qualified for appointment as a tenured full professor. The candidate will demonstrate intellectual breadth and a genuine curiosity about science beyond their own field, with the discernment to recognize excellence across disciplines.

Technologically Forward-Looking
A leader with a pulse on emerging scientific frontiers, including artificial intelligence, computational biology, RNA chemistry, and other next-generation platforms. The candidate must have the judgment to balance renewal of LSI’s established strengths with bold investments in new areas that will define the next era of discovery.

Proven Leader and Strategic Steward
An experienced leader with a demonstrated ability to guide complex academic or research environments. Skilled at managing substantial financial, physical, and human resources with vision, transparency, and discipline. Brings the strategic acumen to link vision to implementation and to drive institutional change thoughtfully and inclusively.

Collaborative Bridge-Builder
Adept at forging partnerships across schools, colleges, and external organizations, the candidate will be skilled at uniting diverse stakeholders to advance interdisciplinary discovery. They will also bring political acumen to navigate Michigan’s complex academic structure while sustaining trust with partners and peers.

Visible Advocate and Fundraiser
A compelling communicator who can elevate LSI’s reputation nationally and internationally. The candidate will be comfortable engaging donors, industry leaders, and collaborators, championing the value of basic science, and telling LSI’s story with authenticity and impact.

Transparent & Inclusive Leadership Style
A leader whose approach is grounded in open communication and inclusivity. The candidate will share decision-making rationales transparently, build trust through dialogue, and engage faculty, trainees, and staff meaningfully in shaping the Institute’s direction.

Empathy & Emotional Intelligence
A consummate listener who is attentive to the diverse perspectives and workloads of faculty, staff, and trainees. Sensitive to backgrounds and experiences across the community, and capable of fostering belonging, collegiality, and mutual respect.

Mentor and Talent Developer
Deeply committed to supporting junior faculty, trainees, and staff, the candidate will serve as an advocate and mentor, ensuring that the next generation of scientists at Michigan flourishes.

Entrepreneurial and Impact-Oriented
Energized by innovation and open to translational opportunities when discoveries are ready, while safeguarding LSI’s identity as a home for bold, curiosity-driven basic science.

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN

The vibrant and active city of Ann Arbor is a cultural hub and urban oasis in the heart of the Midwest that is consistently rated as one of the nation’s top college towns. It is no surprise to residents that a recent publication named Ann Arbor as #1 among “Best Places to Live in the U.S.” In addition to its world-class university, Ann Arbor is home to high-tech research companies and charming neighborhoods with a rich mix of cultures. People from across the country and around the world come to Ann Arbor to study, work and thrive. Downtown Detroit—with its eclectic mix of entertainment and professional sports—is less than an hour’s drive away, and Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) offers a nearby (half-hour from Ann Arbor) gateway to the globe.

Although geographically small, the Ann Arbor area is perhaps most renowned for its cultural offerings and nightlife. It boasts a vibrant arts sector with renowned galleries, museums, and arts non-profits, as well as theatrical and musical organizations, such as the Ann Arbor Symphony. The University Musical Society is among the top four university presenters in the nation and features 70–80 performances by world-class artists each season, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Ballet Preljocaj, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. From independent bookstores and cutting-edge art exhibits to performances by local, regional, and international artists, there are abundant opportunities to enjoy arts and culture throughout the community. Every July, the award-winning Ann Arbor Art Fair transforms the campus and downtown into an art gallery featuring thousands of juried artists and drawing nearly 500,000 visitors. The Ann Arbor Summer Festival hosts a month-long schedule of performances each June, many of which are outdoors and free. Additionally, athletics is woven into the fabric of UM. The University boasts 29 NCAA Division 1 teams (14 men’s and 15 women’s) as well as 35 club sports.

APPLICATIONS, INQUIRIES, AND NOMINATIONS
Johanna Neuman and Lionel Anderson of JM Search have been retained to assist in this recruitment. Confidential inquiries, nominations, and résumés with bespoke letters of intent may be sent to: [email protected] .

The University of Michigan, including the Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses as well as Michigan Medicine, is an equal opportunity employer that complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination. The University is committed to providing an inclusive and respectful environment for faculty, staff, and students, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office (ECRT) at 734-763- 0235 and [email protected] , and as follows: Sex/Gender Identity/Gender Expression/Sexual Orientation, including sexual misconduct: ECRT Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct Director and Title IX Coordinator. Disability: ECRT Disability Director and ADA Coordinator. Race/Color/National Origin/Age/Marital Status/Religion/Height/Weight/Veteran Status: ECRT Civil Rights Director