Dr. Keith Yamamoto Named New Chair of Coalition for the Life Sciences

Bethesda, Maryland (September 2, 2009) – The Coalition for the Life Sciences (CLS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Keith Yamamoto of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), will be its new Chair, replacing Dr. Harold Varmus. Dr. Yamamoto has been on the Board of the CLS (formerly the Joint Steering Committee for Public Policy) since 1996. He has been a member of the UCSF faculty since 1976 and is currently a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Executive Vice Dean of the School of Medicine; his lab studies signal transduction and transcriptional regulation of gene networks by nuclear hormone receptors.

“It is humbling and exciting for me to work with this remarkable group. I am excited about the breadth of experience, insight, and focus that our group can bring to bear in defining and advocating key issues in the area of biomedical research,” remarked Dr. Yamamoto upon his acceptance of the leadership position at the CLS.

Dr. Yamamoto serves on numerous editorial boards and scientific advisory boards, and national committees focused on public and scientific policy, public understanding and support of biological research, and science education.

He has also long been involved in the process of peer review and the policies that govern it at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), serving in numerous capacities and most recently as the co-chair of the working group to Enhance NIH Peer Review, and co-chair of the Review Committee for the Transformational R01 Award. He recently gave a briefing on behalf of the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus on the peer-review process at the NIH, entitled “Finding and Funding the Best Science.”

The Coalition for the Life Sciences is an alliance of seven non-profit professional organizations working together to foster public policies that advance basic biological research and its applications in medicine and other fields.

For further information, please call Lynn Marquis, the Director of the CLS, at (301) 347-9309 or visit www.coalitionforlifesciences.org.