Announcing Nadav Ahituv, PhD, as Director of the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics (IHG)

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Nadav Ahituv, PhD, as Director of the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics (IHG), effective February 1, 2023. Dr. Ahituv has served in the role in an interim capacity for the past year, following Ophir Klein, MD, PhD transitioning from UCSF to join Cedars-Sinai as the inaugural executive director of Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children's and the David and Meredith Kaplan Distinguished Chair in Children's Health.

Dr. Ahituv was recruited for his UCSF faculty position in 2007 through the IHG, and has played an integral role in promoting the Institute as an important home for people working in genetics and genomics at UCSF.

Interested in and passionate about human genetics for most of his life, Dr. Ahituv started the Ahituv Lab more than 15 years ago, and has focused on investigating gene regulatory elements and their relationship to human diversity and diseases, including limb malformations, autism, epilepsy, and obesity. His lab is a leader in the field of gene regulation, is one of the developers of massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) that allow for high-throughput functional characterization of gene regulatory elements, and has pioneered the use of gene regulatory elements as therapeutic targets. Since starting his lab, Dr. Ahituv has concentrated on improving genetics and genomics education, mentoring future geneticists, and increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups to complete PhDs in biomedical research.

We would like to thank the search committee, chaired by Brian Black, PhD, for their work in considering an exceptional pool of candidates from across the country for this position.

We have no doubt that Dr. Ahituv’s history of exceptional research, devotion to mentoring and supporting future leaders in human genetics and genomics, and commitment to diversity and equity in the field, will help advance the IHG’s position as a hub for research, technologies, industry partnerships, training, and education at UCSF.