Profession and title:
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, the Graduate Division, and the Chancellor I Endowed Chair at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD)
Brief biography:
Dr. Dennis received his B.A. from Yale University (1963) and was a member of the first class that graduated from Morse College. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and carried out postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School. He received a Doctorate in Medicine (hon) from Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany and a Doctorate (hon) from the University of Lyon INSA in France. Dr. Dennis started as Assistant Professor at UCSD and served two different times as Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Prof. Dennis’ has over 425 publications and his career research focus has been on the structure, function, mechanism, and inhibition of the enzyme phospholipase A2 as well as on signal transduction, inflammation, lipid metabolism, eicosanoid action, metabolic diseases and especially developing the lipidomics field. He also served as Chair and President of the Keystone Symposia, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Lipid Research, and Director of the LIPID MAPS Lipidomics Consortium.
Dr. Dennis served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA) as well as on the Board of Directors of the Yale Alumni Magazine and the Yale Alumni Fund and on the Alumni and Development Affairs Committee of the Yale Corporation. He also served on the University Council (2004-2013) including the Committee on Engineering, the Committee on Technology Transfer, and the Committee on West Campus Development. He was the recipient of the Yale Science and Engineering Association Meritorious Service to Yale Award (2004) and the Yale Medal (2008).