On Aug. 4 Marc Lalande, PhD, the founding chair of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences at UConn School of Medicine will be stepping down from his role after over 19 years of service to UConn Health.
Brenton Graveley, PhD, the John and Donna Krenicki Professor of Genomics and Personalized Healthcare and associate director of the Institute for Systems Genomics will serve as interim chair of the department. Graveley is a nationally and internationally recognized scientist in the field of alternative splicing and genomics with his research focusing on RNA biology.
Lalande, who also served as the School of Medicine’s research dean from 2004 to 2013, will become Professor Emeritus of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences. In October, Lalande will assume the position of vice president for research at the Shriners Hospital for Children with headquarters in Tampa, FL.
As the Health Net Professor and Chair, Lalande was instrumental in attracting The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine to UConn Health’s campus and, as director of the University’s Institute for Systems Genomics, leading UConn’s collaborative research endeavors with JAX scientists. Also, as director of the UConn Stem Cell Institute, Lalande spearheaded the University’s research in the area of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and he and his team were the first to generate iPSCs for Angelman and Prader-Willi syndromes. Also, his research has advanced the understanding of these human developmental disorders caused by chromosome abnormalities and has made significant contributions to the field of chromosome imprinting, gene-editing technology, and RNA sequencing.
Lalande is an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences and Engineering and has received numerous honors including the Dr. Claudia Benton Award for Scientific Research from the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, the Health Care Hero Award for Advancements in Healthcare Innovation by the Hartford Business Journal, and in 2016 was honored with UConn Health’s Board of Directors Faculty Recognition Award for his outstanding contributions to research, teaching, and mentoring. Lalande graduated from Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, with a bachelor’s in physics. He also earned a master’s and a PhD in medical biophysics from the University of Toronto.
“We are so grateful for all the strong leadership and extraordinary successes of Dr. Lalande helping advance UConn and UConn School of Medicine to the forefront of cutting-edge genome sciences research and discovery. Also, we thank Dr. Lalande for enlightening our medical students and trainees on the promise of genomic medicine,” said Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of UConn School of Medicine. “We are delighted that Dr. Graveley will help us lead the department through this time of transition.”
Interim Chair Graveley also served as a director of the Graduate Program in Genetics and Development Biology, Translational Genomics Core, and also assisted in developing UConn’s new Academic Vision. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder, his graduate studies at the University of Vermont, and his postdoctoral studies at Harvard University.
