Dr. Gilbert (Gil) Omenn is the Harold T. Shapiro Distinguished University Professor of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics, Internal Medicine, Human Genetics, and Environmental Health at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A physician-scientist, his career encompasses biomedical research, public health and public policy, government service, and academic medical center leadership.
He holds an MD from Harvard Medical School, where he described a kindred affected by severe T and B cell dysfunction, now known as Omenn syndrome. After working with Nobel Prize laureate Christian B. Anfinsen on protein chemistry at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he earned a PhD in genetics from the University of Washington and joined its faculty. He served as a White House Fellow at the US Atomic Energy Commission, became a Howard Hughes Investigator, served in the Carter White House as associate director in the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget , then was Dean of Public Health for 15 years before moving to the University of Michigan in 1997 as Executive Vice-President for Medical Affairs and CEO of the UM Health System.
Dr. Omenn has held numerous science leadership roles, including President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, leader of the global Human Proteome Project, Research!America Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Ambassador, and board member for the Hastings Center for Bioethics, the Center for Naval Affairs, the Center for Public Integrity, the Foundation for the NIH, and the American Friends of the Israel-US Binational Science Foundation. His accolades include election to the National Academy of Medicine (1979)
and American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2001), White House Fellows Association John W. Gardner Legacy of Leadership Award (2004), National Academy of Medicine Walsh McDermott Medal (2008), and Association of American Medical Colleges David E. Rogers Award (2013).
A transformative summer at the Weizmann Institute in 1962, working in Prof. Ephraim Katzir’s laboratory, marked the beginning of Dr. Omenn’s warm, steadfast relationship with the Institute and with Prof. Katzir. He serves on the Board of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science and as a Life Member of the Institute’s International Board. With his wife, Martha Darling, he is a member of the Institute’s President’s Circle. The couple have endowed the Katzir Lecture, the Leah Omenn Career Development Chair–currently held
by Dr. Sivan Refaely-Abramson of the Department of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science–in honor of Dr. Omenn’s mother, as well as the Dr. Gil Omenn and Martha Darling Professorial Chair in Molecular Genetics, held by Prof. Maya Schuldiner. Their latest contribution is the Dr. Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling Weizmann Institute-Schneider Hospital Fund for Clinical Breakthroughs through Scientific Collaborations.