Communications from the Chief Scientific Officer

As we reimagine our curriculum across our medical education and training programs, we are delighted to announce a leadership role that recognizes the tireless efforts of an invaluable researcher and educator: Rahul M. Kohli, MD, PhD, has been appointed the Associate Dean and Co-Director of the Combined Degree and Physician Scholars Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In this role, he will help lead the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), one of the School's flagship physician-scientist training programs, along with other physician-scholar development initiatives.

Dr. Kohli is a Professor and Francis C. Wood Chair with appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry and Biophysics. He is also a core member of the Epigenetics Institute. Dr. Kohli earned his BS at the University of Michigan, followed by an MD and PhD from Harvard Medical School. He completed clinical training in internal medicine at Penn, followed by specialization in infectious diseases and a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins before joining the Penn faculty in 2010.

As a highly respected physician-scientist, Dr. Kohli leads a research program investigating enzymes that purposefully mutate or modify DNA bases, with implications for epigenetics, immunity, and antimicrobial resistance. The Kohli lab focuses on revealing biochemical mechanisms, but also leverages insights into these enzymes to develop new genome engineering and sequencing biotechnologies, with methods pioneered by his lab now employed in clinical diagnostics. He is recognized nationally for his scientific impact, underscored by his election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and his recent induction into the Association of American Physicians.

Dr. Kohli is an exceptional institutional citizen, building collaborations across campus and leading initiatives on advisory groups. In addition to his service on numerous graduate groups within our Biomedical Graduate Studies program, he has been an advocate for and leader of MSTP, where he has served as Associate Director since 2014. As an educator and mentor, Dr. Kohli has a passion for melding basic, clinical, and translational sciences. His contributions to our academic community are evident in several domains, from teaching courses for our medical and graduate students, to his key advisory roles bridging medical training and basic science graduate groups, to his role as teacher and mentor in his own laboratory, where he is known for pushing his students to think about the clinical implications of their basic science research. In addition, together with Rajan Jain, MD, Dr. Kohli helped establish the Penn Scholars in Molecular Medicine program to support a cohort of diverse and promising fellows, designing a curriculum geared to launching the Scholars toward independence and preparing them to lead innovation at the interface of science and medicine.

Our MSTP has grown into arguably the country's most revered program of its kind – the “best in the galaxy” – and Dr. Kohli will continue to advance the program with unwavering dedication to education and mentoring. As Co-Directors, Dr. Kohli and Skip Brass, MD, PhD, who has admirably led MSTP since 1998, are responsible for all aspects of the recruitment, admissions, training, and support for combined degree and physician scholars.

Dr. Kohli approaches every interaction with focus and thoughtfulness, and we are delighted to have him serve in this impactful leadership role. It is a very exciting time for us to think about the future of training for our physician-scientists and of aligning our recruitment and development activities across stages and the institution. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Kohli as the new Associate Dean and Co-Director of the Combined Degree and Physician Scholars Program.

E. Michael Ostap, PhD

Senior Vice Dean and

Chief Scientific Officer