Appointment of Interim Vice President for Research
June 26, 2023
Dear Stony Brook Community,
I am pleased to share that Professor Miguel Garcia-Diaz will be appointed Interim Vice President for Research (VPR), effective July 15. As the university’s senior research officer, he will provide oversight for research administration, strategy, policy, technology transfer and economic development. He will also serve as the Operations Manager for the SUNY Research Foundation.
Currently Miguel oversees research development as Stony Brook’s Interim Associate Vice President for Research and Deputy Operations Manager for the Research Foundation, positions he was appointed to in 2022 following a long history as an accomplished researcher and educator. He has served in various roles at Stony Brook, including Associate Dean in the Graduate School and Graduate Program Director for the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology PhD program. He has also participated in several research initiatives, including Facilitating Research Success and the Strategic Budget Initiative.
Miguel received a BS in Biochemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid, Spain. Following completion of a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, he was appointed as assistant professor in the Renaissance School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacological Sciences in 2007, where he is currently a professor.
Miguel is a structural biologist who has focused his research — some of which takes place at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) — on understanding how mitochondria use their genome to build the different structures necessary for mammalian respiration. In addition to Miguel’s demonstrated commitment to advancing institutional research, he has been dedicated to developing the next generation of researchers in biomedical, behavioral and clinical research, including students from groups underrepresented in these fields of research. He has shown excellent leadership and mentorship qualities as the Director of the T32-funded Training Program in Pharmacological Sciences and as Co-Director of the National Institute of Health’s IRACDA Training Program.
I am deeply grateful for Rich Reeder’s leadership as VPR since 2016 and for his willingness to continue leading the university’s strategic engagement with BNL. I am confident that Miguel’s scientific and administrative experience, as well as his commitment to the institution and to supporting faculty researchers, will help Stony Brook further advance its research mission, as well as future research development efforts, including medical, climate science, and defense-focused opportunities. Please join me in thanking Miguel for serving in this interim role, and offer him your support during this transition period.
Sincerely,
Maurie McInnis
President