| Susan Desmond-Hellmann | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | chancellor |
| Known for | public health |
Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, is currently the Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco. She was appointed to the position by UC President Mark Yudof on May 7, 2009, and officially took over in the position on August 3, 2009.[1]
She served as president of product development at Genentech from March 2004 through April 30, 2009. In this role, Desmond-Hellmann was responsible for Genentech’s development, process research and development, business development, product portfolio management, alliance management, and pipeline planning support functions. Desmond-Hellmann also served as a member of Genentech’s executive committee, beginning in 1996.
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Desmond-Hellmann joined Genentech in 1995 as a clinical scientist, and she was named chief medical officer in 1996. In 1999, Desmond-Hellmann was named executive vice president of development and product operations.
Desmond-Hellmann is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, and completed her clinical training at UCSF following completion of a bachelor of science degree in premedicine and a medical degree at University of Nevada, Reno. She also holds a master's degree in public health from University of California, Berkeley.
Prior to joining Genentech, Desmond-Hellmann was associate director of clinical cancer research at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. While at Bristol-Myers Squibb, she was the project team leader for Taxol.
Desmond-Hellmann also has served as associate adjunct professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UCSF. During her tenure at UCSF, Desmond-Hellmann spent two years as visiting faculty at the Uganda Cancer Institute, studying AIDS and cancer. She also spent two years in private practice before returning to clinical research.
In January 2009, Desmond-Hellmann joined the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Economic Advisory Council for a three-year term. In July 2008, Desmond-Hellmann was appointed to the California Academy of Sciences board of trustees.
Desmond-Hellmann was named to the Biotech Hall of Fame in 2007 and Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Woman of the Year for 2006. Desmond-Hellmann was listed among Fortune magazine’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2001 and from 2003 to 2008. From 2004 to 2006, the Wall Street Journal listed Desmond-Hellmann as one of its Women to Watch.
From 2005 to 2008, Desmond-Hellmann served a three-year term as a member of the American Association for Cancer Research board of directors, and from 2001 to 2009, she served on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Desmond-Hellmann has served on the corporate board of Affymetrix since 2004.[2]
In June 2010 Desmond-Hellmann sold her Altria Group stock, which is owned by Phillip Morris, and subsequently donated $134,000 to The University of California, San Francisco tobacco control center, where she is chancellor. She sold this stock a day after being questioned about it by The New York Times. She claimed that many stocks had been bought by her broker and that she was too busy as chancellor although she had written the stock on her financial disclosure statement.[3][4]
Desmond-Hellmann grew up in Reno, Nevada as one of seven children. Her father worked as a pharmacist and her mother was an English teacher. She went to college in Reno and attended the University of California, San Francisco for medical school.[5]
Desmond-Hellmann married Nicholas Hellmann in 1987.[5] They practiced in Uganda for two years before moving to Kentucky before they moved to Connecticut to work for Bristol-Meyers.[5]