Dr. Mark R. O’Brian to Step Down from Chair of Biochemistry Role

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am writing to announce that Mark R. O’Brian, PhD, will be stepping down from his role as chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University at Buffalo at the end of this calendar year.He will remain a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry, continuing to contribute to our academic community.

Dr. O’Brian has been an integral part of our UB faculty for more than three decades, demonstrating exemplary commitment to research, teaching, mentoring and service. As chair, he has helped build a strong department through the recruitment and mentoring of outstanding faculty members, developing curricular programs for graduate, undergraduate and professional students and fostering a sense of community.

Dr. O’Brian’s research program, which studied the metabolic and nutritional control of gene expression in bacteria, was continuously funded from his arrival at UB in 1988 until he closed his lab in 2023. This work is relevant to understanding how bacteria interact with higher organisms in both symbiotic and pathogenic contexts.

He has published extensively in high-impact journals, including Science, Molecular Cell and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. O’Brian organized and chaired two international conferences and has participated as a speaker or session chair in many others.

His research included training of graduate students in his lab, and UB recognized him with the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award. He also received an American Society for Microbiology Professorship in Latin America to mentor and teach graduate students at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Dr. O’Brian is a committed teacher who has developed and taught courses for graduate, undergraduate and professional students. He participated in the development of the new Well Beyond medical curriculum that was rolled out this July. His efforts have been recognized by receipt of the Siegel Award from medical students and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.  

Additionally, Dr. O’Brian is interested in promoting the public understanding of science, and he has published articles in The Conversation, the Buffalo News and the Albany Times Union.

Please join us in thanking Dr. O’Brian for his dedication and outstanding contributions to our institution. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

The search for the next chair of the Department of Biochemistry will begin soon. John C. Panepinto, PhD, senior associate dean for biomedical education and professor of microbiology and immunology, will lead the search.

Best wishes,

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA
Dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Vice President for Health Sciences
University at Buffalo