Leadership Transition in the Institute for Human Genetics

As Dean Talmadge E. King, Jr., MD recently announced in a message to the School of Medicine, Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, Director of the Institute for Human Genetics (IHG), is 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. Nadav Ahituv, PhD, will serve as the interim director of the IHG, effective February 1, 2022.

Dr. Klein joined the faculty at UCSF in 2007 and is now Professor of Orofacial Sciences and Pediatrics, the Larry L. Hillblom Distinguished Professor in Craniofacial Anomalies, and the Charles J. Epstein Professor of Human Genetics. He serves as the Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Pediatrics and the Chair of the Division of Craniofacial Anomalies and Director of the Program in Craniofacial Biology in the School of Dentistry. 

Dr. Klein’s research focuses on understanding how organs form in the embryo and how they regenerate in the adult, with a particular emphasis on the processes underlying craniofacial and dental development and renewal as well as on understanding how stem cells in the intestinal epithelium enable renewal and regeneration. 

He has received several honors and awards, including New Innovator and Sustaining Outstanding Achievement in Research Awards from the NIH, and the E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society for Pediatric Research. Dr. Klein was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, and the National Academy of Medicine, and he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Dr. Klein attended the Yale University School of Medicine, where he received his medical degree and a PhD in Genetics. He completed residencies at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Pediatrics and at UCSF in Clinical Genetics.