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Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., is the Acting Deputy Director for Extramural Research. He has served as director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) since August 2013 where he oversees the Institute's mission-related activities, supporting basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.​ Dr. Lorsch has also taken on many leadership roles at NIH, including serving as a co-chair of the ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æScientific Data Council and the Extramural Activities Working Group and as a member of the Administrative Data Council and the Scientific Management Review Board.

Lorsch came to NIGMS from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was a professor in the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1999 and became a full professor in 2009. During his tenure, he worked to reform the curricula for graduate and medical education, spearheaded the development of the Center for Innovation in Graduate Biomedical Education, and launched a program offering summer research experiences to local Baltimore high school students. In addition, he advised dozens of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

A leader in RNA biology, Dr. Lorsch studies the initiation of translation, a major step in controlling how genes are expressed. When this process goes awry, viral infection, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer can result. To dissect the mechanics of translation initiation, Lorsch and collaborators developed a yeast-based system and a wide variety of biochemical and biophysical methods. The work also has led to efforts to control translation initiation through chemical reagents, such as drugs. Dr. Lorsch continues this research as a tenured investigator in NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Lorsch received a B.A. in chemistry from Swarthmore College in 1990 and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Harvard University in 1995, where he worked in the laboratory of Jack Szostak, Ph.D. He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University in the laboratory of Daniel Herschlag, Ph.D. Dr. Lorsch is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters, and other papers. He has also been the editor of six volumes of Methods in Enzymology and has been a reviewer for numerous scientific journals. He is the author on two awarded U.S. patents. His honors include six teaching awards from Johns Hopkins.