February 14, 2006

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to officially announce the appointment of Rick Huganir, a member of our faculty since 1988, and an international authority on synaptic proteins and signaling, as the new Director of the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience in the School of Medicine.

He becomes only the second Chair in the 25-year history of the Department, succeeding the founding director, for whom the Department is now named.

It is always a special pleasure to recognize that one of our own faculty is the very best candidate we could hope to have. Rick's scientific credentials are sterling, but, in addition, he has been an effective leader in the department, active in many roles in the School and nationally. And most important, he has the vision to take the department into what is quickly becoming a new Golden Age of neuroscience.

In recommending the appointment, the search committee, led by Neurology chair Jack Griffin, took note of Rick's “outstanding record of significant research accomplishments,” as well as his leadership skills. The committee went on to praise not only the excellence of his scientific work, but also his experience as Director of the Department's Graduate Program, Chair of the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke's Board of Scientific Counselors, and Treasurer of the Society for Neuroscience.

A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, professor of neuroscience since 1993 and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the School, he is widely acclaimed for his novel experiments shedding light on the makeup and activity of proteins and others brain chemicals at work when neurons in the brain communicate.

Rick is also clearly committed to recruitment and career development of women and underrepresented minorities, an important priority for me and all of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

To learn more about his work and the Department he will now lead, visit http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/academics/neuroscience.html . Meanwhile, please join me in extending congratulations to Rick and welcoming him to his new responsibilities.

Sincerely,

Edward D. Miller, M.D.
Dean/CEO
Johns Hopkins Medicine