Announcing Xin Sun, PhD, as Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Xin Sun, PhD, as the next director of the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI), effective November 1, 2026.
We would like to express our deep gratitude to Brian Black, PhD, for his dedicated leadership of the CVRI since 2019. You can read more about his many impactful accomplishments and contributions to the CRVI here. We would also like to thank the search committee, co-chaired by Jeff Olgin, MD and Prescott Woodruff, MD, MPH, for their work on this search.
Dr. Sun is an internationally recognized scientist whose research has advanced our understanding of lung development, cardiopulmonary and vascular disease, tissue regeneration, single cell genomics, and interoception – the communication between the brain and internal organs. She joins UCSF from UC San Diego, where she is the Nancy Olmsted Endowed Chair and professor of Pediatrics and Cell and Developmental Biology. She is also the founding director of the UC San Diego Center for Lung Research and Innovation, a cross-campus initiative that brings together basic scientists, clinicians, and trainees to accelerate discovery and strengthen collaboration.
Recruiting an established scientist of Dr. Sun’s caliber from outside UCSF reflects both the strength of the CVRI and UCSF’s continued commitment to scientific excellence. At a time of extraordinary change in the biomedical research environment, bringing a highly accomplished, federally-funded investigator and scientific leader to UCSF represents an important investment in the future of our research mission.
Throughout her career, Dr. Sun has pursued fundamental biological questions with the potential to improve human health. Her laboratory has made important discoveries related to congenital cardiopulmonary disorders, asthma, lung injury and repair, and lung-brain neural circuits. Her research has earned sustained support from the National Institutes of Health, and as a leader in the NIH-funded LungMAP and HuBMAP consortia, she has helped generate and share extensive single-cell and spatial genomic datasets of healthy and diseased human lungs. Her emerging work applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to integrate genomic, clinical, environmental, and imaging data and deepen our understanding of cardiopulmonary disease.
Dr. Sun earned her PhD in biology from Yale University and completed her postdoctoral training at UCSF in the laboratory of Gail Martin, PhD. She began her independent career at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she rose to the rank of professor, before joining UC San Diego in 2016. Her accomplishments have been recognized with numerous honors, including the American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments, the organization’s highest award for basic research in lung biology.
An accomplished educator and mentor, Dr. Sun has trained generations of graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and fellows. She has also developed collaborative research and learning communities that connect investigators across disciplines and career stages. Her scientific breadth, collaborative approach, and commitment to mentorship will position her well to lead CVRI’s extraordinary community, further strengthen its research enterprise, and build on its distinguished history of scientific discovery.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Sun back to UCSF and to this important leadership role.