Mark Schlissel is the 14th president of the University of Michigan and the first physician-scientist to lead the institution. Schlissel previously served as provost of Brown University, where he was responsible for all academic, programmatic and budgetary functions within Brown’s schools and colleges, as well as the libraries, research institutes and centers.
Schlissel began his career as a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also served as a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California–Berkeley teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in immunology. He was UC-Berkeley’s dean of biological sciences in the College of Letters and Science.
His research has focused on the developmental biology of B lymphocytes, the cell type in the immune system that secretes antibodies. His work has contributed to a detailed understanding of genetic factors involved in the production of antibodies and how mistakes in that process can lead to leukemia and lymphoma.