Charles G. Sagerstrom, PhD (Professor, Section of Developmental Biology) has been selected as Vice Chair for Basic Science Research. Dr. Sagerstrom will officially start in this role on March 1, 2023 and will be connecting with basic science research leaders within the Department, the School of Medicine, and the Child Health Research Enterprise.
Dr. Sagerstrom brings a unique background and set of experiences to his new role. Prior to coming to the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital Colorado in 2019, he was Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. While at UMass, he held important institutional roles including Director of the Biochemistry Graduate Program, member of the Basic Science Academic Excellence Board, and member of the School of Medicine Honor Board.
Dr. Sagerstrom received his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Stanford University in 1993, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997, and earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Isenberg School of Management in 2010. While completing his fellowship at MIT, he was honored with an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship award.
Dr. Sagerstrom’s career has emphasized basic research with a focus on gene function, embryonic development, and neural progenitors. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the March of Dimes. He is currently the principal investigator on two research project awards (R01-GM142158 and R01-NS038183) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) respectively. He is also an accomplished mentor whose graduate students and postdoctoral fellow trainees have advanced professionally to academic positions both nationally and internationally. He is a member of several scientific professional organizations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Developmental Biology, and the International Zebrafish Society.
