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The Department of Developmental Biology is one
of Stanford's youngest departments and as such has considerable
youthfulness of spirit. It also has benefited from the leadership of
its more senior members. Our department now includes seven members of
the National Academy of Sciences among its twelve primary and
secondary faculty. These more senior members of the department have
set a high standard, not only in terms of such official recognition
but also in their unending curiosity about biology and their
enthusiasm for research. As the department approaches the end of its
first decade we must think about ways to preserve the spirit,
maintain the quality, and keep new enterprises in motion as the field
changes.
The Department of Developmental Biology was formed in 1989 in order to provide a focus for the many developmental biologists on campus and to create a new center of effort in this burgeoning field. Initial funding for the new department came from a grant from the Markey Foundation. Dr. Lucy Shapiro, who moved to Stanford from Columbia University, first chaired the Department. Existing Stanford faculty who joined the new department were David Clayton, David Hogness, Dale Kaiser (primary appointment in Biochemistry), James Spudich (primary appointment in Biochemistry), and Irving Weissman (primary appointment in Pathology). In 1989, Stuart Kim (from MIT) and Roel Nusse (from Amsterdam Cancer Institute) joined the department. In 1990 Margaret Fuller and Matthew Scott (from the University of Colorado); David Kingsley (from The National Cancer Insitute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center) in 1991; Anne Villeneuve (from Stanford) in 1995; Seung Kim (from Harvard) in 1998; and William Talbot (from Skirball Institute, NYU) in 1999; all joined The Department of Developmental Biology. There are about 130 people in the department, counting both primary and secondary faculty appointees and their lab groups.
The strong belief of our faculty is that we
can work together to be much stronger than the sum of our parts. To
this end we do everything possible to promote interactions within the
department and to encourage collaborations outside the department.
Multiple laboratory groups share virtually all equipment. Lab groups
are intermingled to promote interactions. Numerous events bring
together the department to learn about science. At thesis defense
seminars, which are very well attended, the applause is often
prolonged; so many others have been a part of that thesis and that
effort.
Roel Nusse chairs the department. The Associate
Chairman is Matthew Scott (who previously served as Chair in 1997 and
1998). These two people make executive decisions in close and
frequent consultation with other members of the faculty. Faculty
meetings are held about six times each year. Raul Felipa, Director of
Finance and Administration, is in charge of the office staff and
department service staff.
Contacts: