Dr. Kevin Moses Named Vice President of Science Programs at The Kavli Foundation

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kavli Foundation has announced the appointment of Dr. Kevin Moses as Vice President of Science Programs. He will assume his new role on December 1.

Dr. Moses will oversee The Kavli Foundation's flagship programs in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics, including the 20 Kavli Institutes around the world, the Kavli science meetings program and summer schools, as well as the Foundation's partnerships with national science agencies, scientific societies and other philanthropies. Building on The Kavli Foundation's strong history with the U.S. BRAIN Initiative and other funding initiatives, he will also develop and implement fundamental science and technology projects that are consistent with the Foundation's mission to support scientists and their work. 

A developmental biologist, Dr. Moses has more than a dozen years of leadership experience at several of the world's top philanthropic institutions, all focused on science. These institutions include the Wellcome Trust, the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In his current role as Science Officer at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, he has helped to establish its programs, partnerships and grant-making initiatives during its formative phase.

"Kevin brings a wealth of experience and accomplishments in science, academia and philanthropy," said Robert Conn, President and CEO of The Kavli Foundation. "Our challenge as The Kavli Foundation approaches its 20th anniversary is to ensure that we remain impactful in our science philanthropy. I'm fully confident that with Kevin's strong strategy-setting and leadership experience and the talented team we have in place, we are up to that challenge."

Prior to joining the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Dr. Moses spent five years at the Wellcome Trust, the United Kingdom's largest charitable foundation. He led Wellcome's Science Division, overseeing its annual science funding portfolio, along with 13 research institutes and hundreds of principal investigators in the U.K., Africa, India and Southeast Asia.

Dr. Moses moved into science philanthropy from academia in 2005 to help launch Janelia, a research campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute dedicated to understanding the brain, where he served as Associate Director for Science and Training and then as Chief Academic Officer. His wide-ranging responsibilities at Janelia encompassed developing its scientific direction, recruiting faculty, fostering collaboration and developing the graduate programs.   

"The Kavli Foundation has consistently found ways to help the most powerful scientific ideas thrive," said Dr. Moses. "I'm looking forward to continuing that tradition."

Dr. Moses earned his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Cambridge, England in 1986, after which he did a post-doctoral fellowship in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining HHMI/Janelia in 2005, he was an Assistant, then Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California (1991-1997) and of Cell Biology at Emory University (1998-2005). His research focused on the development of the visual system in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, a widely used model organism in the life sciences.

ABOUT THE KAVLI FOUNDATION

Based in Southern California, The Kavli Foundation advances science for the benefit of humanity, promotes public understanding of scientific research, and supports scientists and their work. Its commitment to basic science takes the long view, supported by history, that discoveries in science lead to a better world and a better life for all, and that basic research yields fundamental knowledge and transformative insights about the nature of the universe and life within it. The Foundation's mission is implemented through an international program of research institutes in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience and theoretical physics, and through the support of conferences, symposia, endowed professorships, workshops and other activities. The Foundation is also a founding partner of the biennial Kavli Prizes, which recognize scientists for their seminal advances in three research areas: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. For more information on the Foundation, visit www.kavlifoundation.org.

Read an interview with Dr. Moses: http://www.kavlifoundation.org/kavli-news/moses-named-vice-president-science-programs

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SOURCE The Kavli Foundation