Santiago Schnell

Santiago Schnell FRSB FRSC is a Venezuelan-born scientist and academic administrator. He is the Provost of Dartmouth College, where he also holds appointments as Professor of Mathematics in the School of Arts and Sciences, Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Data Science at the Geisel School of Medicine.

Prior to his appointment at Dartmouth, he served as the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame. . Earlier in his career, he held faculty appointments at the University of Michigan, where he was Chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology and the John A. Jacquez Collegiate Professor of Physiology, and at the University of Oxford as a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church.

Early life and education

Schnell was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. His early interest in science was influenced by his neighbor, Serafín Mazparrote, a Spanish biologist and educator who introduced him to field studies and scientific observation. At age 10, Schnell received a Sinclair ZX81 personal computer from his father, which helped develop his interest in mathematical and computational approaches to scientific questions.

He earned a degree in biology from Universidad Simón Bolívar and later completed a doctorate in mathematical biology at the University of Oxford. His doctoral and postdoctoral research was carried out under the supervision of Philip Maini, FRS, at the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology at Oxford.

Career

From 2001 to 2004, Schnell was a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow of the Wellcome Trust at the Centre for Mathematical Biology. In 2004, he joined the faculty at Indiana University Bloomington as an assistant professor of informatics and associate director of the Biocomplexity Institute.

In 2008, Schnell moved to the University of Michigan, where he was appointed associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology and a Brehm Investigator in the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research. In 2013, he received a joint appointment as associate professor in the Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, and in 2015 he was promoted to professor in both departments. He was named the John A. Jacquez Collegiate Professor of Physiology in 2016 and served as chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology from 2017 to 2021.

In 2021, Schnell was appointed the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

Schnell is a past president of the Society for Mathematical Biology. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal ''Mathematical Biosciences'' and is a member of the Commission on Standards for Reporting Enzymology Data (STRENDA).

Research

Schnell's research is focused on the development of mathematical and computational models in the biomedical sciences, with the goal of improving measurement accuracy and understanding the dynamics of complex biological systems. His work spans two main areas: (1) standardization of quantitative methods in biomedical research and scientometrics, and (2) mathematical modeling of reaction kinetics and intracellular processes.

He has contributed to the theoretical analysis of enzyme kinetics, particularly in the context of the Michaelis–Menten mechanism. Schnell derived a closed-form expression—now known as the Schnell-Mendoza equation—for estimating the Michaelis constant and maximum reaction velocity using time-course data under initial rate conditions.

Schnell has also examined how the rate laws describing intracellular biochemical reactions are affected by the physicochemical conditions of the cellular environment, including macromolecular crowding. His research has addressed ambiguities in modeling reaction dynamics in non-ideal conditions, contributing to efforts to improve reproducibility in quantitative biology.

In addition to his work on enzyme kinetics, Schnell has developed multiscale models to study developmental processes and cancer biology. His research in this area has been featured in scientific publications such as ''American Scientist'', ''Investigación y Ciencia'' (Spanish edition of ''Scientific American''), and ''Spektrum der Wissenschaft'' (Germany).

Honors and awards

Schnell has received recognition for both his research and teaching. In 2006, he received the Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence from the School of Informatics at Indiana University. At the University of Michigan Medical School, he was inducted into the League of Educational Excellence in 2013, and received the Endowment for Basic Science Teaching Award in the same year.

In 2010, Schnell was awarded the James S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Science Award for his work on network topologies associated with conformational diseases.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Society of Biology, and the Royal Society of Medicine. He is also a Corresponding Member of the Academia de Ciencias de América Latina.

Schnell was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in recognition of his contributions to mathematical biology, including the modeling of biochemical reactions and estimation of kinetic parameters.

In 2023, he received the Arthur T. Winfree Prize from the Society for Mathematical Biology for his contributions to enzyme kinetics and mathematical biology. That same year, he was named the recipient of the SACNAS Distinguished Scientist Award by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, in recognition of his work on enzyme kinetics and the mathematical modeling of the polymerase chain reaction.

He has also served as a visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Barcelona.

Educational contributions

During his tenure at Michigan, Schnell led efforts to expand undergraduate and postdoctoral training programs in physiology. He co-organized the establishment of a summer fellowship program aimed at providing undergraduate students with research experience. He also secured independent funding for the program through an NIDDK R25 grant titled "Interfacing Computation and Engineering with Digestive and Metabolic Physiology Program."

Academic administration

Society for Mathematical Biology

As President of the Society for Mathematical Biology, Schnell implemented a number of organizational reforms aimed at expanding the society’s reach and engagement. He established thematic subgroups within the society to foster focused interactions among members with shared scientific interests.

During his tenure, the society launched several new awards to recognize contributions across career stages, including the H. D. Landahl Mathematical Biophysics Award for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, the Leah Edelstein-Keshet Prize for women in mathematical biology, the John Jungck Prize for Excellence in Education, and the SMB Fellows Program.

He also contributed to the society’s fundraising efforts, which reportedly led to a significant increase in its endowment.

University of Michigan

From 2017 to 2021, Schnell served as chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan Medical School. During his tenure, the department maintained its status as the top-ranked physiology department in the United States based on funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Under his leadership, the department’s annual operating revenue increased from $20.7 million to $26.9 million, and its cash and investments grew from $11.2 million to $17.2 million. The departmental endowment rose from $5.4 million to $8.3 million. He also completed fundraising for two endowed collegiate professorships and established an endowment to support postdoctoral programming.

During this period, six faculty members from the department were elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and one was elected to the Latin American Academy of Sciences.

Schnell led efforts to expand diversity in departmental educational programs, with underrepresented minority students comprising nearly one-third of the trainee population by the end of his term. Between 2016 and 2017, in collaboration with David Brown and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, he supervise the health inequities research efforts at Michigan.

University of Notre Dame

Schnell served as the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame beginning in 2021. During his tenure, the college launched several new academic and public engagement initiatives.

In 2021, Notre Dame established a national undergraduate minor in rare disease patient advocacy, reported to be the first program of its kind in the United States.

He contributed to securing a $20 million gift to endow the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, a new research center on campus. Schnell also oversaw the planning and expansion of the university’s East Campus Research Complex with the addition of a 200,000-square-foot science and engineering building.

To promote science communication and outreach, Schnell established the Notre Dame Christmas Lectures, modeled after the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. He also created a professorship in the public understanding of science, which was among the first such positions at a U.S. university.

In 2022, he launched the Rev. Joseph Carrier, C.S.C., Science Medal, awarded by the College of Science for sustained achievements in scientific research. The inaugural recipient was Nobel laureate Donna Strickland.

Personal life

Schnell is married and has two children. According to a university profile, personal health experiences have influenced his decision to focus his research on biomedical problems, including disease detection and measurement.

Sources

External links

Fast moving fronts 2009

Schnell Faculty Directory Page at Dartmouth

Schnell research website at Dartmouth

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnell, Santiago
Theoretical biologists
21st-century Venezuelan biologists
Simón Bolívar University (Venezuela) alumni
Living people
University of Michigan faculty
Computational chemists
1971 births
University of Notre Dame faculty
Scientists from Caracas