Opening Keynote

Monday - February 9th  

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET

Considerations for Managing University Research in a Challenging Budgetary Climate

Today, university research has unprecedented potential to enhance the health and overall quality of life of global populations, yet diverse challenges must be managed to facilitate this research and optimize its impact. In this presentation, I will first describe how advances in fundamental research, performed most effectively in a university environment, can catalyze major advances in the treatment of human disease. Recent advances in cancer immunotherapy will be used as an example. I will then provide my personal perspectives on the mindset of university leaders and scientists in confronting and adapting to current research-related challenges. 
 
For university leaders, these include considerations in balancing the recruitment of early-career and senior faculty with the need to support existing faculty and trainees, while providing a robust research infrastructure that is essential for research success and impact. Additional challenges include the need to balance growth with the desire to maintain and enhance research quality. Core facilities require additional consideration. For scientists, important considerations include strategies for securing stable research funding for their laboratory, maintaining a sufficient workforce in the face of budgetary uncertainties, and creating efficiencies in research operations.

Stephen T. Smale, PhD

Distinguished Prof & Vice Dean for Research – David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Stephen T. Smale, PhD, was Vice Dean for Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA from 2015-2021 and research returned as Acting Vice Dean for Research. He is also the Sherie L. and Donald G. Morrison Chair of Molecular Immunology, a Distinguished Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UCLA, and a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
 
Dr. Smale received an AB in Chemistry from Cornell University and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He then was a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation postdoctoral fellow with Nobelist Dr. David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute, MIT. At UCLA, Dr. Smale previously served as Vice Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, Director of Basic and Translational Research for the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Program at UCLA, Director of the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, and founding Chair of the School of Medicine's Research Initiative in Immunity, Inflammation, infection, and Transplantation (I3T). From 2021-2025, Dr. Smale was a Senior Director for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He serves on the editorial advisory boards for the journals Immunity, Genes & Development, and Trends in Immunology, and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
 
The research in Dr. Smale's lab spans the areas of gene regulation, inflammation, molecular immunology, and stem cell biology. A major interest is the molecular mechanisms of pro-inflammatory gene regulation, with an emphasize on the genomic logic through which signaling pathways, transcription factors, and chromatin structure orchestrate selective inflammatory and innate immune responses to microbial and environmental threats.