Senior Associate Dean and Associate Vice Chancellor for Precision Medicine leads the UCLA Institute for Precision Health.
Daniel H. Geschwind, MD, PhD, is the Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Professor of neurology, psychiatry and human genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In his capacity as senior associate dean and associate vice chancellor of precision health across UCLA Health and the medical school, Dr. Geschwind also leads the UCLA Institute for Precision Health.
Dr. Geschwind’s laboratory has pioneered the application of systems biology methods in the study of neurologic and psychiatric disorders, discovering multiple disease-causing genes and disease mechanisms. Dr. Geschwind has put considerable effort into fostering collaborative, large-scale patient resources for genetic research and data sharing. He has served on numerous scientific advisory boards, including the Faculty of 1000 Medicine, the Executive Committee of the American Neurological Association, the Scientific Advisory Board for the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the National Advisory Mental Health Council and the National Institutes of Health Council of Councils. Dr. Geschwind is also an elected member of both the American Association of Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Geschwind has published more than 400 papers and serves on the editorial boards of Cell, Neuron and Science. He has received numerous awards, including the Derek Denny-Brown Neurological Scholar Award, Autism Speaks’ Scientific Service Award and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation’s Ruane Prize for outstanding achievement in child and adolescent psychiatric research, among others.
Deputy Director for the UCLA Institute for Precision Health.
Dr. Lajonchere is the Deputy Director for the newly-founded UCLA Institute for Precision Health. Although her background reflects a wide range of professional, clinical, and research experience across CNS disorders such as schizophrenia and autism, she has spent her career working on cross-cutting issues in psychiatric genetics. Over the course of her career, she has used a team science approach to bridge the chasm between the discoveries made in the laboratory and the development of therapeutics and interventions that have relevance for patients. To this end, she has brought together cross-disciplinary teams of scientists, clinicians and patient advocacy groups to support large-scale collaborative research programs, training opportunities, and translational initiatives that have been transformative in the field of autism and psychiatric genetics.
For over a decade, she served as the VP of Clinical Programs at Autism Speaks where she was responsible for building scalable programs such as the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), the Autism Tissue Program, the Autism Treatment Network (ATN), and several large-scale bioinformatic initiatives. She generated significant federal funding from NIH to support her own scientific programs and research activities through her academic research appointments at USC. She has also worked closely with the Latino community in Los Angeles and has received significant federal funding to develop models for authentic inclusion of minority populations in biomedical research. Two and a half years ago, Dr. Lajonchere stepped out of academia and the non-profit world to work in the Silicon Valley with a digital healthcare startup that used machine learning and mobile technology to identify children who may be at risk for developmental disabilities and autism using their mobile phones.
Dr. Lajonchere received her formal training in experimental psychology at Washington University in St. Louis with a particular emphasis on cognitive neuroscience and child psychopathology. Dr. Lajonchere has held research appointments in pediatrics and the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC and Keck School of Medicine and will be joining the Neurology faculty at UCLA in the spring.
