Research Power Couple Comes to Northwestern
Alan Krensky, MD, and Carol Clayberger, PhD, arrive at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine carrying many titles, among them: researchers, innovators, patent holders, and husband and wife.
Krensky, who will become vice dean for Development and Alumni Relations and professor of pediatrics, will play a critical role in the collaboration among fundraising campaigns at the medical school and for Northwestern Medicine. Leaving Stanford University in 2007, he became deputy director for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI ). At the OPASI, Krensky worked under NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, MD, to promote interdisciplinary and multi-institutional investigation among the 27 NIH institutes and centers.
Clayberger, professor of microbiology-immunology, comes to Feinberg having been a tenured professor at Stanford University and, for the past five years, a senior scientist at the National Cancer Institute.
With more than 400 publications between them, the scientific “power couple” have held appointments at Harvard, Stanford, the NIH, and beginning September 1, at Feinberg.
“I am delighted to welcome Alan and Carol to the Northwestern community,” said Eric G. Neilson, MD, vice president for medical affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean. “Their superb accomplishments in the areas of research and fundraising provide yet another example of our academic medical center’s continuing effort to elevate our identity as a national leader in medicine."
A physician-scientist with a deep appreciation for fundraising, Krensky is an accomplished researcher who will provide an even greater connection between development opportunities and the work taking place at Feinberg. Before facilitating the development of the OPASI at NIH, Krensky helped launch an ambitious $500 million fundraising campaign at the Stanford University School of Medicine. This collaborative between the Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford, and Lucile Packard Foundation created new centers of excellence in cancer, heart, brain and behavior, transplant and tissue engineering, neonatology/women’s health, and pulmonary cystic fibrosis.
At that time, he developed a coordinated fundraising approach that crossed departmental, hospital, foundation, and university boundaries, working closely with individual donors to help model their gifts while also including faculty and staff in the discussion. Within three years, $240 million was raised in addition to $200 million in matching gifts and a $100 million initial donation, completing the campaign years ahead of schedule.
“Dr. Krensky’s innovation and ingenuity provide perspective few individuals possess,” said Dean M. Harrison, president and CEO of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. “He brings a stellar track record of successes at the nation’s premiere medical institutes, and we’re confident he will continue this level of excellence here for Northwestern Medicine.”
Krensky earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and received his MD from Penn in 1977. He then became an instructor in pediatrics at Harvard before spending 23 years at Stanford. His research interests are in human cellular and molecular immunology, transplantation immunology, and tumor immunology. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians and is a co-author of more than 240 research papers.
Clayberger received her PhD in cell biology from Yale University before becoming a postdoctoral fellow and instructor at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University. She joined the faculty in cardiothoracic surgery and pediatrics at Stanford in 1989, where she established a research program in immunology and transplantation biology. Her current research focuses on T-cell immunobiology. She has published more than 160 scientific articles, served on a number of scientific advisory boards, and holds a number of patents.
“Carol is an outstanding investigator whose expertise in immune signaling will significantly enhance the medical school’s immunology program,” said Laimonis Laimins, PhD, chair of microbiology-immunology. “She already boasts an international reputation as a top-tier immunologist, and we are glad to welcome her here.”
This page last updated Aug 21, 2012