HMS names William W. Chin new executive dean for research

William W. Chin has been named the executive dean for research at Harvard Medical School. In the newly created senior position he will have the overarching responsibility of overseeing biomedical research at HMS. Chin, who will start on May 1, comes to HMS from Eli Lilly and Co., where he was senior vice president for discovery research and clinical investigation.

In his new role, Chin will spearhead efforts to design and implement a vision for research at HMS, with special emphasis on interdisciplinary research that crosses departmental and institutional boundaries.

“There are very few people capable of rising to such a challenge,” Jeffrey Flier, dean of Harvard Medical School, wrote in a letter to the Harvard community, “and it is for this reason that I am thrilled that Bill will be joining the HMS leadership team.”

One of Chin’s priorities will be to conceptualize and develop new research initiatives, such as the therapeutics discovery initiative, which focuses on bringing together the enormous expertise within the HMS community to find effective new ways of transforming the world’s most vital biomedical research into therapies that can directly improve human health.

To read the full release, visit the Harvard Medical School Web site.