Kelsey Martin, M.D., Ph.D.

Kelsey Martin, M.D., Ph.D., is executive vice president of the autism and neuroscience programs at the Simons Foundation. autism and neuroscience programs. In this role, she supports large-scale basic, translational, and clinical neuroscience research around the globe. She is also a professor emeritus on active recall in the department of biological chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where her research lab studies the molecular and cell biology of long-term memory with a focus on how experience alters connectivity between neurons. Her laboratory pioneered studies on the regulation of gene expression within neurons during long-term memory formation, highlighting a critical role for signaling between the synapse and nucleus and for local regulation of protein synthesis at the synapse.

Deeply committed to academic medicine, Martin served as dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA from 2015-2021. As dean, she established programs in precision health and computational medicine, founded a master’s program in genetic counseling, and developed a series of interdepartmental research initiatives spanning basic through clinical research.

After receiving a B.A. in English from Harvard University, Martin served as a public health Peace Corps volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She then completed her M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University in 1992. She undertook postdoctoral training in neurobiology with Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel at Columbia University and joined the UCLA faculty in 1999.

Among her service roles, Martin is president of the Board of Directors of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience and is a member of the Board of Directors of the W. M. Keck Foundation, National Academy of Medicine Council and HHMI Scientific Review Board. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine in 2016 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2024.