ABOUT US

We focus on you, so you can focus on great science

The Office of Research at the University of Michigan Medical School is constantly striving to enhance the research enterprise, including maintaining an investigator-focused infrastructure, facilitating and diversifying investigators' avenues for funding, and streamlining research processes.

From the enabling technologies of the Biomedical Research Core Facilities to proposal review by Grant Services & Analysis to clinical study development by the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research, the Office of Research comprises over a dozen units offering a wide range of support to the research community.  Across the spectrum, our team's primary mission is to foster an environment of innovation and efficiency that serves the Medical School research community and, ultimately, contributes to positive patient impact.

Our Leadership

Steven L. Kunkel, Ph.D.

As Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice Dean for Research, Steven L. Kunkel, Ph.D., provides direction for the school’s research mission, including setting goals for developing a major global presence for the Medical School’s research enterprise. Dr. Kunkel is the Endowed Professor in Pathology Research and co-director of general pathology in the Department of Pathology at the Medical School. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in microbiology and served his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He joined the University of Michigan Medical School faculty in 1980. Dr. Kunkel’s areas of research have centered on assessing molecular mechanisms of lung inflammation by investigating cytokine and chemokine directed cell-to-cell communication circuits... (more)

Karl Jepsen, Ph.D.

Karl Jepsen, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean for Research - Basic and Translational, and a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Jepsen earned a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Wayne State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from U-M. He conducted his post-doctoral training at Case Western Reserve University, where he then served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics. In 1999, he accepted a position in the Department of Orthopaedics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He returned to Michigan in 2011. His research program focuses on understanding how complex physiological systems such as the skeletal system establish function during growth and maintain function during aging...(more)

Sachin Kheterpal, M.D., M.B.A.

As Associate Dean for Research Technology, Dr. Kheterpal is responsible for establishing the vision and strategy to effectively use information technology (IT) to advance the research mission.  Working closely with Health Information Technology and Services, the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR), departmental leadership, and other research and informatics teams across the Medical School, he sets research IT priorities to help ensure our competitive positioning for the future. To that end, he will coordinate centralized research IT efforts with departmental points of distributed innovation and champion the use of IT to differentiate Michigan Medicine in securing extramural funding, establishing industry partnerships, and attracting and retaining top faculty, staff and students... (more)

Julie Lumeng, M.D.

Julie Lumeng, M.D., in addition to serving as Associate Dean for Research in the Medical School, also serves as Associate Vice President for Research-Clinical and Human Subjects research for the University of Michigan and Executive Director for the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR). Dr. Lumeng is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Medical School and a professor of nutritional sciences in the School of Public Health. She has been Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics, as well as Director of the Center for Human Growth and Development and a member of MICHR’s faculty cabinet. Dr. Lumeng aids the Medical School Office of Research in developing and executing a strategic vision for clinical and translational investigations across the research spectrum, expanding the Medical School’s extramural funding base, enhancing faculty competitiveness, and increasing our global reputation for scholarly excellence... (more)

Anna Lok, M.D.

Anna Suk-Fong Lok, M.D., is the Dame Sheila Sherlock Distinguished University Professor of Hepatology and Internal Medicine and Alice Lohrman Andrews Research Professor in Hepatology in the Department of Internal Medicine, at Michigan Medicine. Dr. Lok is also Director of Clinical Hepatology and Assistant Dean for Clinical Research in the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Lok obtained her medical degree from the University of Hong Kong and her hepatology training under the late Dame Sheila Sherlock at the Royal Free Hospital in London, UK. She was on the faculty at the University of Hong Kong until she moved to the United States in 1992. Dr. Lok's research focuses on the natural history and treatment of hepatitis B and C, and... (more)

Samuel M. Silver, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Silver, a professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, specializes in malignant and benign hematology, and is a former director of the University of Michigan Cancer Center Network. He has been a member of the faculty since 1986 and in April 2008 he was appointed Assistant Dean for Research. Dr. Silver received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College and his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University. He completed his residency at the University of California-San Francisco and was a fellow in hematology and oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. As medical director of U-M Health System’s Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Program from 1990 to 1997, Dr. Silver grew the program into one of the country’s largest transplant sites... (more)