Marie Csete appointed president and chief scientist of HMRI

Marie Csete, MD, PhD Charts Course for Future of Leading Research Organization

Huntington Medical Research Institutes, a leading biomedical research organization, has announced the appointment of Marie Csete, MD, PhD, its chief scientific officer, to her new role as president and chief scientist of HMRI.

Dr. Csete joined HMRI in January 2014 as chief scientific officer after an extensive nationwide search, and has advanced HMRI’s collaborative relationships with other prestigious scientific communities and an efficient restructuring of management. As president and chief scientist, Dr. Csete has instituted an in-house education program to bring HMRI researchers from different disciplines together, and started an in-house grant program to foster new interdisciplinary research programs. The funded multidisciplinary program in Alzheimer’s disease at HMRI, for example, combines advanced imaging techniques including chemical imaging of the brain, intensive lipid and protein analysis of the spinal fluid, and generation of pluripotent stem cells from the study patients.

“This study, bringing domain experts with widely different perspectives together, is emblematic of the kinds of programs we hope to build at HMRI,” said Dr. Csete.

Dr Csete’s new executive team is Dan Maljanian, the VP of Philanthropy; Frank Davis, VP of Finance, and Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD, VP of Translation. Dr. Kloner, an accomplished cardiovascular researcher and cardiologist, joined HMRI on January 5, 2015, to direct the all important research in heart disease.

“We are confident that under the leadership of Dr. Csete, HMRI will have an enhanced ability to continue its mission of improving the health and prolonging the lives of countless individuals,” said George Leal, chairman of the HMRI board. “Dr. Csete’s clinical and research acumen coupled with her background in an array of diverse scientific fields brings our organization a great asset.”

With nearly 30 years of experience in patient care and research, Dr. Csete received her MD from Columbia University, and her PhD in developmental biology from Caltech. The former CSO of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, California’s state stem cell agency, and Division Director of Cellular Therapies at AABB, Dr. Csete has consulted for academics and industries developing regenerative medicine therapies, and continues to work on the improving standards for cellular therapies with the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapies.

Dr. Csete is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology with subspecialty in Critical Care, and extensive experience in clinical liver transplantation. She is also Professor of Anesthesiology at USC, and a Visiting Associate at Caltech.

“I’m greatly honored to have been appointed president of an organization that has such a storied past and such a brilliant future,” said Dr. Csete. “I am committed to fostering an environment of collaboration within HMRI and with our strong clinical and scientific neighbors in Pasadena.”

Dr. Csete’s predecessor, William Opel, PhD, retired in late 2014.