New Biochemistry Department Chair

Dear colleagues:

We are pleased to announce that after a comprehensive national search, Eric J. Sundberg, PhD, has been appointed Chair of the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine. He will be joining us by September 1, 2019.

Dr. Sundberg currently serves as Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Basic Science Division in the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. After graduating with bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and economics from the University of Rochester, Dr. Sundberg earned his PhD in biological sciences at Northwestern University. He joined the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in 1999 and transitioned to a research faculty member there in 2002. In 2004, he started his independent research program at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute before returning to Maryland in 2011 as an associate professor.

Throughout his career, Dr. Sundberg’s work has focused on the structural biology of infection and immunity, and his research leverages expertise in structural biology, molecular biophysics and protein engineering to define the molecular bases of infectious diseases and to develop novel protein therapeutics.

We want to thank our faculty in the biochemistry department for your continued dedication and accomplishments during this time of leadership transition, and we offer special thanks to Jerry Boss for his leadership and support. We look forward to seeing the department’s continued research growth under Dr. Sundberg’s guidance. We are confident that his experience and leadership will fuel the department’s trajectory toward becoming one of the leading research programs in biochemistry discovery in the nation.

Please join us in congratulating and welcoming Dr. Sundberg.

Vikas

Vikas P. Sukhatme, MD, ScD
Woodruff Professor
Dean, Emory School of Medicine
Chief Academic Officer, Emory Healthcare

Jon

Jonathan S. Lewin, MD, FACR
Emory Executive Vice President for Health Affairs
Executive Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center
President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Emory Healthcare