{"id":3486,"date":"2008-01-31T16:45:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/about-us\/history\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T14:32:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:32:54","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/about-us\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"Department History"},"content":{"rendered":"

This section began with information courtesy of Dr. Thomas Traut in 2008. Last updated in February 2026.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

The Department of Biological Chemistry<\/strong> became an independent academic unit in 1935. In the earlier years of the twentieth century, the subject of biochemistry had been taught at UNC-Chapel Hill by professors holding an appointment within the Department of Physiology. Before 1938, biochemistry was completely taught by one professor. Only in 1939 did the department begin to grant the PhD degree.<\/p>\n

With the creation of an independent department, the faculty expanded slowly to include five professors by 1950; 21 by 1975; and 30 in 2008. Student enrollment and PhDs awarded also increased as the department expanded. The annual scientific productivity is now at more than 150 papers published per year. In recent years an average doctoral student had just over 4 co-authored papers from dissertation research and was first author on two papers.<\/p>\n

Changing Names of the Department through the years<\/h2>\n

1932 – 1932: Department of Physiology
\n1933 – 1935: Department of Physiology & Biological Chemistry
\n1935 – 1942: Department of Biological Chemistry
\n1943 – 1971: Department of Biological Chemistry & Nutrition
\n1971 – 1991: Department of Biochemistry & Nutrition
\n1991 – Present: Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics<\/p>\n

\n

Past and Present Chairs of the Department<\/h2>\n

1935 – 1937: Evan W. McChesney, PhD
\n<\/em>1937 – 1957: James Clarence Andrews, PhD
\n1957 – 1978: Joseph Logan Irvin, PhD
\n1978 – 1989: Mary Ellen Jones, PhD – read our news article Mary Ellen Jones: A Woman of Many Firsts<\/strong><\/a>
\n1989 – 1993: Michael G. Douglas, PhD
\n1998 – 2005: David E. Lee, PhD
\n2006 – 2020: Leslie V. Parise, PhD
\n2022 – present: Jean G. Cook, PhD<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Chairs-image.jpg\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Past Interim Chairs of the Department<\/h2>\n

1994 – 1997: William F. Marzluff, PhD
\n1997 – 1998: Ronald Swamstrom, PhD
\n2005 – 2006: Henrik G. Dohlman, PhD
\n2020 – 2022: Brian D. Strahl, PhD<\/p>\n

\"Bill\"Ron\"Dohlman_Henrik\"\"Brian<\/p>\n

\n

Chronology of the Department’s Growth: Entering Faculty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

1920 through the 1930s:<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

K. B. Perrine
\nFrederick P. Brooks
\nEvan W. McChesney
\nJames Clarence Andrews
\nGranvill C. Kyker<\/td>\n		1923 – 1926
\n1926 – 1931
\n1933 – 1937
\n1937 – 1957
\n1938 – 1950<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

1940 through the 1950s:<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Michael K. Berkut
\nCarl E. Anderson
\nJoseph Logan Irvin
\nJohn E. Wilson
\nFred E. Bell
\nRalph Penniall<\/td>\n		1947 – 1980
\n1950 – 1980
\n1950 – 1983
\n1950 – 1990
\n1956 – 1994
\n1959 – 1986<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

1960 through the 1970s:<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Edward Glassman
\nDavid Holbrook
\nJan Hermans
\nMary Ellen Jones
\nJames R. White
\nGerhard Meissner
\nRichard Wolfenden
\nMichael Caplow
\nChi-Bom Chae
\nStephen Chaney
\nCharles W. Carter, Jr.
\nPierre Morell
\nBarry Lentz
\nThomas Traut<\/td>\n		1960 – 1983
\n1963 – 1995
\n1963 – 2004
\n1965 – 1992
\n1968 – 1987
\n1974 – 2021
\n1970 – 2018
\n1972 – 2015
\n1972 – 1994
\n1974 – 2012
\n1974 –
\n1975 – 2003
\n1975 – 2018
\n1978 – 2017<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

1980 through the 1990s:<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Patricia F. Maness
\nAziz Sancar
\nStephen Crews
\nHoward M. Fried
\nRonald L. Swanstrom
\nGwendolyn Sancar
\nAnn Erickson
\nMichael G. Douglas
\nLaura Kalfayan
\nBrian Popko
\nJean-Michel Vos
\nMary Sue Coleman
\nHengming Ke
\nGeorge Rose
\nWilliam F. Marzluff
\nSharon L. Campbell
\nBeverly Errede
\nDavid E. Lee
\nYi Zhang<\/td>\n		1980 –
\n1982 –
\n1993 – 2023
\n1982 – 2023
\n1982 –
\n1982 – 2016
\n1988 – 2013
\n1989 – 1993
\n1989 – 1994
\n1989 – 2002
\n1989 – 1994
\n1990 – 1996
\n1990 –
\n1993 – 1994
\n1991 –
\n1993 –
\n1981 – 2023
\n1997 – 2005
\n1999 – 2012<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

2000 through the 2010s:<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Dale Andrew Ramsden
\nChristopher Borchers
\nHenrik Gunnar Dohlman
\nNikolay Dokholyan
\nBrian D. Strahl
\nBrian Kuhlman
\nJean G. Cook
\nJohn Riordan
\nJohn Sheehan
\nXian Chen
\nLeslie Parise<\/td>\n		1998 –
\n2001 – 2006
\n2001 – 2016
\n2002 – 2018
\n2001 –
\n2002 –
\n2004 –
\n2005 – 2018
\n2004 – —
\n2006 –
\n2006 – 2020<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n

2010 through 2030s:<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
Saskia Neher
\nWolfgang Bergmeier
\nQi Zhang
\nGang (Greg) Wang
\nJill Dowen
\nPengda Liu
\nBrian Button
\nRick Baker
\nSuzanne Barbour
\nRebecca Berlow
\nChrystal Starbird
\nJustin M. Jenson
\nTigist Tamir
\nKarin Leiderman Gregg
\nClint<\/span> Stalnecker
\n<\/span> Joanna Kovalski<\/span>
\nYour name could be here.<\/td>\n		2011 –
\n2011 –
\n2011 –
\n2011 – 2023
\n2015 –
\n2016 –
\n2018 –
\n2019 –
\n2019 – 2022
\n2022 –
\n2023 –
\n2024 –
\n2024 –
\n2025 –
\n2025 –
\n2026 –
\n2026 –<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This section began with information courtesy of Dr. Thomas Traut in 2008. Last updated in February 2026. The Department of Biological Chemistry became an independent academic unit in 1935. In the earlier years of the twentieth century, the subject of biochemistry had been taught at UNC-Chapel Hill by professors holding an appointment within the Department … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41619,"featured_media":0,"parent":2704,"menu_order":50,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-3486","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDepartment History | Biochemistry and Biophysics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/about-us\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Department History | Biochemistry and Biophysics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This section began with information courtesy of Dr. Thomas Traut in 2008. 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