David A. Brenner

David Brenner, M.D., a distinguished physician-scientist, is Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, since February 2007. In this role, Dr. Brenner leads the UC San Diego School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wertheim School of Public Health, UCSD Medical Center, and UCSD Medical Group. He has oversight of over 1400 faculty, 7,500 staff; over 800 medical and pharmacy students, and a health system that cares for approximately 35,000 inpatients and 850,000 outpatients annually. The annual budget of Health Sciences under Dr. Brenner has grown to $3.2 billion, including $750 million in research grant funding.

Dr. Brenner is a leader in the field of gastroenterological research, specializing in diseases of the liver. He is widely respected as a translational scientist whose work bridges the laboratory and clinical settings. He has focused on understanding the molecular pathogenesis of fibrotic liver disease and the genetic basis of liver disorders as the foundation for improving prevention and treatment of liver disease. He is recognized as an outstanding clinician and teacher. For five years he was Editor-in-Chief of Gastroenterology, the premier journal in the field.

He was recruited to UC San Diego from the Columbia University Medical Center College of Physicians and Surgeons; where from 2003-2007 he was Samuel Bard Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine, a Member of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Member of the Columbia University Institute of Nutrition, and Physician-in-Chief of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia.

He earned his M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine. After completing his residency at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, he served as a research associate in the Genetics and Biochemistry Branch of the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. He first joined UC San Diego in 1985 as a gastroenterology fellow, later joining the medical school faculty, and serving as a physician at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. He also was recognized as a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences and a Clinical Investigator in the VA system. In 1992 he became Professor and Chief of the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he continued to earn accolades for his patient care and research.

Dr. Brenner is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, for which he was the president, the American College of Physicians, the American Clinical and Climatological Association, and the National Academy of Medicine. He currently serves on the board of directors of UCSD Athletics, the La Jolla Institute of Immunology, the Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, CONNECT, the San Diego Opera, and the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. He also serves on numerous editorial boards and scientific advisory boards.