LEADERSHIP

stem cell researcher, Sean Morrison
Director of the CRI

Sean J. Morrison is the founding director of Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He holds the Mary McDermott Cook Chair in Pediatric Genetics and the Kathryne and Gene Bishop Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Research. Dr. Morrison completed a B.Sc. in biology and chemistry at Dalhousie University (1991), a Ph.D. in immunology at Stanford University (1996), and a postdoctoral fellowship in neurobiology at Caltech (1999). From 1999 to 2011, Dr. Morrison was a professor at the University of Michigan, where he directed its Center for Stem Cell Biology.

Among other awards, Dr. Morrison received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2003) and a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging (2009). He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine (2018), the US National Academy of Sciences (2020), and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO; 2023). Dr. Morrison served as the President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (2015–2016) and has been active in public policy issues surrounding stem cell research, testifying before the U.S. Congress, and serving as a leader in the successful “Proposal 2” campaign to protect and regulate stem cell research in Michigan’s state constitution.

Board Of Directors

Scientific Advisory Boards

Administration

Board of Directors
Voting Directors
Christopher J. Durovich

President and Chief Executive Officer, Children’s Health

David W. Biegler

Retired Chairman, Southcross Energy Partners

Robert A. Chereck

Retired Executive Chairman, Southwest Securities, FSB

Joan Conaway, Ph.D.

Vice Provost and Dean of Basic Research, UTSW Medical Center

Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D.

President, UTSW Medical Center

Michael Serber, MBA

Vice President of Finance, UTSW Medical Center

Mark Weinzierl

Founder and Chairman, Anelto

Non-Voting Directors
Sean Morrison, Ph.D.

Director, CRI

W. P. Andrew Lee, M.D.

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean, UTSW Medical School

Jorge Bezerra, M.D.

Chair, Department of Pediatrics, UTSW Medical Center

 Scientific Advisory Boards 
Internal
Michael Brown, M.D.

Paul J. Thomas Chair in Medicine, UTSW Medical Center; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1985

Helen H. Hobbs, M.D.

Director, McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, UTSW Medical Center; Member, National Academy of Sciences

W. P. Andrew Lee, M.D.

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean, UTSW Medical School

Eric N. Olson, Ph.D.

Chair, Department of Molecular Biology, UTSW Medical Center; Member, National Academy of Sciences

External
Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D.

Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Jonathan A. Epstein, M.D.

William Wikoff Smith Professor of Cardiovascular Research, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Gail Mandel, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist, Vollum Institute at Oregon Health and Science University; Member, National Academy of Sciences

Stuart H. Orkin, M.D.

Chair, Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Member, National Academy of Sciences

Charles L. Sawyers, M.D.

Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Member, National Academy of Science

Owen N. Witte, M.D.

Director, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, UCLA; Member, National Academy of Sciences

Administration

Teresa Hui, MBA, M.S.

Executive Director

Katie Regan, M.A.

Science Communications

Misti Wheat, B.S.

Project Manager

Ashlei Johnson, B.S.

Financial Analyst Supervisor

Diana Fonseca, MPA

Grants Management Support

Sarah Helfer, MHA

Grants Management Support

Brandi Smith, M.S.

Office of the Director

Laura Clarke

Procurement and Faculty Support

Xandra Damon, MBA, MHA

Faculty Support

Chris Garcia, B.A.S.

Faculty Support

Alisha Patel, B.S.

Faculty Support