History

In 1967, Stony Brook University recruited Melvin Simpson, an American Cancer Society Professor from Dartmouth University to establish a new Division of Biochemistry within the Department of Biology. Inside a year, a fully-fledged Department of Biochemistry was born with Mel serving as the inaugural Chair and overseeing the recruitment of many new faculty members to establish Stony Brook’s presence in this rapidly expanding field. Mel served as chair until 1974. The Department continued to grow under the chairmanship of Marty Freundlich, Vince Cirillo, Bernie Dudock, and then Masayori Inouye. Marty Freunclich then became acting chair in 1986. 

The department underwent a major reorganization and expansion when Dr. William Lennarz, then recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences  in 1989. Bill sought to reinvigorate the department through the appointment of over twelve outstanding new faculty, and broadened the mission to include Cell Biology, the study of cellular and subcellular structure and function. Most of the scientists recruited by Bill remain as senior faculty members and have helped cement the department’s reputation as a center of excellence in teaching and research science. 

In 2009, Robert Haltiwanger succeeded William Lennarz as Chair of the Department. During Dr. Haltiwanger’s tenure, the Department welcomed several new faculty members. In 2015, Dr. Haltiwanger stepped down as Chair and was succeeded by Dr. Aaron Neiman, who hired three additional faculty members. In 2021, Dr. Aaron Neiman stepped down and was replaced by Dr. Wali Karzai, who continues to serve as the Department Chair.

Since 2021, the Department has embarked on a new phase of expansion, recruiting ten new tenure-track and two non-tenure-track faculty members. These additions have bolstered the Department’s strengths in structural biology and developmental biology, while simultaneously introducing novel research areas, such as systems and computational biology.