New Leadership for Human Genetics and Neurosurgery

The University of Michigan Medical School recently named new chairs for two key departments

Sally Camper

Karin Muraszko Photo: Lin Goings

Sally Camper, Ph.D., professor of human genetics and internal medicine and a highly respected and nationally recognized geneticist, became chair of the Department of Human Genetics and the James V. Neel Professor of Human Genetics on January 1. Using genetically engineered mice, Camper has identified and elucidated the genes involved in inherited pituitary hormone deficiency diseases, deafness and skeletal defects. Her work has led to important advances in clinical research, as well as in basic science.

After a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and a doctorate in biochemistry from Michigan State University, Camper undertook postdoctoral training at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia, and at Princeton University in the lab of Shirley Tilghman, a world-renowned scholar and leader in the field of molecular biology and Princeton University’s 19th president. Camper joined the Michigan Department of Human Genetics in 1988 and, in 2001, accepted a secondary appointment in the Department of Internal Medicine. She is associate director of the Program in Biomedical Sciences, a member of the Organogenesis Steering Committee, and founding director of the U-M’s highly regarded Transgenic Animal Model Core. Camper is active in a variety of other interdepartmental programs, including the Medical Scientist Training Program, Genome Sciences Training, and Systems and Integrative Training. Her lab received a National Institutes of Health MERIT Award in 2002 and serves as the training locus for many promising graduate and post-doctoral scientists and physician-scientists. She is the author of more than 125 publications in scientific journals.

Also on January 1, Karin Muraszko, M.D., professor of neurosurgery, pediatrics and communicable diseases, and of plastic surgery, became chair of the Department of Neurosurgery. She received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a medical degree from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. After residency in neurosurgery at Columbia’s New York Neurological Institute, she spent two years at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Muraszko came to Michigan in 1990 and maintains an active clinical practice, along with research interests in pediatric brain tumors, Chiari malformations, developmental anomalies of the spine (particularly spina bifida), and craniofacial anomalies. Muraszko became chief of pediatric neurosurgery in 1995 and vice chair for education for the Department of Neurosurgery in 2001. In addition to her clinical, research and educational commitments, she has served on important U-M committees including a term on the Advisory Committee on Appointments, Promotions and Tenure, which she served as chair, and the Medical School Executive Committee. Muraszko also holds leadership positions in multiple national neurosurgical organizations, including membership on the executive committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the public relations committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the board of directors of Women in Neurological Surgery, the health care policy steering committee of the American College of Surgeons, and the publication committee of the American Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery.