November 4, 2005

New chief of Molecular Biology

Bob Kingston, PhD, has been named chief of the Department of Molecular Biology, formalizing the role as interim chief he assumed a year ago. He succeeds Howard Goodman, PhD, who retired last July after leading the department since its inception in 1981. Kingston joined Molecular Biology in 1985 and helped to build the department into a widely respected center for basic research, teaching and training.

Before coming to the MGH, he earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed his postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1995, Kingston became a full professor at Harvard Medical School, and currently leads the graduate program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences. His lab is investigating the complex processes by which some genes are activated and others are turned off, which is essential to the correct function of cells and the structure of the tissues they constitute.

"Bob has done an outstanding job at the helm of this department as interim chief, and I am confident that his scientific expertise and excellent leadership skills will further guide the department as one of the premier molecular biology centers in the world," says Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH.