Archived Content

Bruce Alberts, PHD

Curriculum Vitae

Education and Positions Held

1956-1960 Undergraduate (A.B. 1960), Biochemical Sciences, summa cum laude, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1960-1965 Predoctoral Fellow in Biophysics (Ph.D. 1965), National Science Foundation, in the laboratory of Professor Paul Doty, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1965-1966 Postdoctoral Fellow, National Science Foundation, in the laboratories of Professors Alfred Tissieres and Richard Epstein, Institut de Biologie Moleculaire, Geneva, Switzerland.
1966-1971 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
1971-1973 Associate Professor, Department of Biochemical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.
1973-1976 Damon Pfeiffer Professor of Life Sciences, Department of Biochemical Sciences, Princeton University (1973-74 Acting Chairman, 1974-75 Associate Chairman).
1976 On sabbatical leave from Princeton, in the laboratory of Professor Lewis Wolpert, Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, England (January through August).
1976-1993 Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco (Vice Chair 1976-1981; 1981-82 Acting Chair; Department Chair 1985-1990).
1993-2005 President, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
2000-2009 Co-chair, InterAcademy Council, Amsterdam.
2007-2008 President, American Society for Cell Biology
2008-2013 Editor-in-Chief, Science magazine, Washington, D.C.
2009-2011 United States Science Envoy
2005- Chancellor’s Leadership Chair in Biochemistry & Biophysics for Science & Education. University of California, San Francisco (Emeritus since 2009).


Honors and Awards

Current Advisory Boards (All non-profit institutions)

  • Member, Board of Directors, Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) (Chair 2005-2024)
  • Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, Scleroderma Research Foundation (1992-present)
  • Chair, Board of Directors, William J. Rutter Foundation (2012-present; member since 1999)
  • Member, Board of Directors and Council, Science and Technology in Society Forum, Kyoto, Japan (2005-present)
  • Member, UCSF Administrative Advisory Board, Science & Health Education
    Partnership (SEP) (2005-present)
  • Member, Advisory Board, Life Sciences Research Foundation (2006-present)
  • Member, InterAcademy Panel (IAP) Science Education Program (SEP) International Advisory Committee (2014-present)

Focus of Current Work

Previous Advisory Boards

Major commitments

  • Chair, Molecular Cytology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health (1984-1986); (member 1982-1986)
  • Chair, National Research Council Committee on Mapping and Sequencing the Human Genome (1986-1988)
  • Chair, Commission on Life Sciences of the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences (1988-1993)
  • Co-chair, Science and Strategy Committee for the System Review Panel, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (1997-1998)
  • Chair, Center for Scientific Review Panel on Scientific Boundaries, National Institutes of Health (1998-2004)
  • Co-Chair, InterAcademy Council (2000-2009; institution in Amsterdam governed by the presidents of 15 science academies from around the world; later renamed as the InterAcademy Partnership for Policy, headquartered in Trieste)
  • Trustee, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (2005-2021)
  • Member, Yidan Education Prize Judging Committee (2016-2023)

Other Advisory Boards

  • Trustee, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1972-1975)
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry (1976-1982)
  • Member, Board of Scientific Advisors, Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research (1978-1985)
  • Member, Corporation Visiting Committee for the Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1978-1998)
  • Member, Advisory Council for the Departments of Biochemical Sciences and Molecular Biology, Princeton University (1979-1985)
  • Chairman, Visiting Committee for the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard College (1983-1986)
  • Member, Visiting Committee of the Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington (1983-1989)
  • Associate Editor, Annual Reviews of Cell Biology (1984-1993)
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Markey Foundation (1984-1997)
  • Member, Program Advisory Committee for the NIH Human Genome Project (1988-1991)
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle (1988-1996)
  • Member, Board of Directors, Genentech Foundation for Biomedical Sciences (1989-2009)
  • Member, Advisory Board of the National Science Resources Center, National Academy of Sciences and Smithsonian Institution (1990-1993)
  • Member, Council of Scientific Advisors, Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (1996-2001)
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation (1996-2008)
  • Member, Board of Trustees, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (1998-2008)
  • Member, ex officio, U.S. Department of Education National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century (“Glenn Commission”) (1999-2000)
  • Member, Board of Directors, Teach for America (1999-2003)
  • Member, Advisory Board, Merck Institute for Science Education (1999-2012)
  • Member, Board of Trustees, Carnegie Corporation of New York (2000-2008)
  • Member, Harvard University Board of Overseers (2001-2007)
  • Member, Visiting Committee, Harvard Graduate School of Education (2001-2007)
  • Co-Chair, NIH Blue Ribbon Panel on Conflict of Interest Policies, A Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the Director, National Institutes of Health (2004)
  • Member, Jury, Purkwa Science Education Prize (2005-2010)
  • Member, Advisory Board, MIT OpenCourseWare (2005-2015)
  • Member, Board of Directors, Dan David Prize (2005-2008)
  • Member, Exploratorium Advisory Council (2005-2010)
  • Member, Executive Committee, and Director, Science and Innovation, UCSF Global Health Sciences (2005-2010)
  • Chair, Science Service Blue Ribbon Commission (2006)
  • Member, the Advisory Board, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2006-2012)
  • Member, Board of Directors, California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) (2006-2016)
  • Member, National Institutes of Health Advisory Committee to the Director Working Group on Peer Review (2007-2008)
  • Co-chair, Basic Science, UCSF Faculty Bridge Funding Committee (2007- 2009)
  • Member, Carnegie-IAS Commission on Mathematics and Science Education: The Opportunity Equation Report; Co-chair of Building Teacher Capacity Working Group (2007-2009)
  • Member, Board of Trustees, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt (2008-2014)
  • Member, National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Women in the Academy (2009-2010)
  • Member, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Board (2009-2019)
  • Member, The Cell: An Image Library Advisory Board (2011)
  • Reviewer, NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards (2011-2014)
  • Member, HHMI’s Science Education Advisory Board (SEAB) (2011- 2015)
  • Member, Foothill Science Learning Institute Advisory Board (2011–2024)
  • Member, California Science Expert Panel (SEP) for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (2013- 2014)
  • Member, Muslim-Science.com’s Task Force on Teaching of Science in the Muslim World (2014-2015)
  • Chair, Inaugural Selection Committee, United States National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery (2015)
  • Member, Board of Directors, National Math and Science Initiative, Inc. (NMSI) (2007-2019)
  • Member, Advisory Committee, California Science and Technology Policy Fellowships (2009-2015)
  • Member, Science Initiative Group (SIG) of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) (2010- 2015)
  • Member, GYA Global Young Academy Advisory Board (2010-2015)
  • Member, International Advisory Board, Faculty of 1000 (2011-2017)
  • Member, Board of Trustees, The Future University, Sudan (2013-2017)
  • Chair, Advisory Board, Cultures, publication of American Society for Microbiology   (ASM) International (2013- 2017)
  • President, International Committee, La main à la pâte Foundation (2014-2012)
  • Member, Advisory Board, Africa Science Leadership Program (ASLP) (2015-2018)
  • Member, Advisory Board, University of California, San Francisco Motivating INformed Decisions (MIND) Program (2015-2018)
  • Member, Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine (2015-2020)
  • Member, Scientific Steering Board, Indonesian Science Fund (ISF) (2016-2018)
  • Member, Advisory Board, Simons Foundation (2016-2019)
  • Member, Evaluation Panel, 100&Change, MacArthur Foundation (2016)
  • Member, Working Group on Scientific Partnerships with Resource-Limited Countries, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019-2021)
  • Member, Board of Directors, Teacher Research Initiative (2019-2021)
  • Member, Board of Trustees, California Academy of Sciences (2009-2017)
  • Member, Advisory Committee, National Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources (NSF EHR) (2012-2018)
  • Member, Board of Directors, Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) (2014 – 2019)
  • Member, External Advisory Committee, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Endowed Scholars (1999-2019)
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Allen Institute for Cell Science (2015-2022)
  • Member, Editorial Board, ASCB journal, Cell Biology Education-Life Sciences Education (CBE-LSE) (2001-2023)
  • Chair, Board of Directors, California Foundation for Molecular Biology (2012-2023)

Professional Societies 

  • American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • American Society for Cell Biology
  • American Society for Microbiology
  • Sigma Xi
  • American Association for Advancement of Science

Television

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