Cell Biologist Selected to Lead Salk Institute

An internationally known cell biologist has been chosen to head the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, ending a search that began last year when ill health unexpectedly forced Nobel laureate Francis Crick to step down.

Salk officials announced Monday that Dr. Thomas Dean Pollard, who has directed the department of cell biology and anatomy at Johns Hopkins University for 19 years, will become the institute’s ninth president and chief executive officer, effective July 1.

Pollard, 53, is a California native who graduated from Pomona College and Harvard Medical School. An authority on the molecular basis of cell movements, he is active in the National Research Council and is a past president of the American Society for Cell Biology.

The Salk Institute specializes in basic research in neuroscience and molecular biology. It was founded in 1960 by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk.