Read full story by Laura Kurtzman at ucsf.edu.
Harold (“Hal”) Collard, MD, MS, a pulmonologist with deep roots at UC San Francisco, has been named UCSF’s next Vice Chancellor for Research. He currently serves as director of the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) and associate vice chancellor for Clinical Research.
In his new post, Collard will oversee all aspects of research at UCSF, orienting the campus toward new directions in science and nurturing cross-campus and extramural collaborations. This includes improving UCSF’s research infrastructure, expanding the partnership between the UCSF research community and UCSF Health, and deepening relationships with the local community.
He also will advocate at the national level for research funding and policy support.
“Hal brings to the job a tremendous amount of experience as a physician-scientist who has shown a deep appreciation for the full spectrum of the research enterprise,” said Dan Lowenstein, MD, executive vice chancellor and provost at UCSF. “He is someone who recognizes the vital importance of basic science as the key work that will bring about new treatments and cures, and also clinical trials that are needed to bring therapies to patients.”
Collard said he will be “a champion for research, someone who understands and stewards its research mission. Someone who will ask, ‘What do we need to invest in now, so that five years from now we can continue to lead in cutting-edge research?’”
Leading through Change
In this combustible time, Collard notes, many forces are coming to bear on academic medical centers like UCSF.
Basic, clinical, and translational science are being transformed by new technologies and a dramatic growth in computational speed and power, while societal forces have brought a renewed centering on health equity and anti-racism.
And there are global challenges, including the current SARS CoV-2 pandemic, climate change, and long simmering humanitarian crises.
“It is the responsibility of institutions like UCSF to lead the academic community into this volatile, uncertain and complex world, and to set institutional goals for research that address the emerging scientific and societal needs,” Collard says.
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