George L. Kenyon Elected 15th President of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

George L. Kenyon, Ph.D., dean and Tom D. Rowe Collegiate Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, was elected the 15th president of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB). His election took place at the IUBMB's 18th General Assembly, held Oct. 12 in Montreal, Canada.

Kenyon will serve as the IUBMB president elect from 2003 to 2006 and will serve as president from 2006 to 2009. For the past three years, he has been chair of the U.S. National Committee for the IUBMB, one of several field-specific national committees run by the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academies.

The IUBMB has members from 71 nations, representing approximately 100,000 biochemists and molecular biologists in the various societies of member-nations. The mission of the IUBMB is "to foster and support the growth and development of biochemistry and molecular biology as the foundation from which the biomolecular sciences derive their basic ideas and techniques in the service of mankind."

In addition to organizing and sponsoring various scientific conferences and congresses around the world, the IUBMB supports the publication of several prominent scientific journals including Trends in Biochemical Sciences , IUBMB Life, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education and Molecular Aspects of Medicine.

Kenyon became dean of the U-M College of Pharmacy in fall 1998 after a 26-year career at University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy, where he was interim dean and then dean from 1993 to 1998. Kenyon has maintained an active research program while serving as dean at both U-M and UCSF.