Michael A. Weiss (1975, OH)

Michael A. Weiss, MD, PhD, MBA, has been chosen to fill a dual role of chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and director of chemical biology and biotherapeutics for the Indiana University Precision Health Initiative.

Dr. Weiss comes to IU School of Medicine from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where he was chair of biochemistry, a distinguished research professor and the Cowan-Blum professor of cancer research. He leads research in two areas of molecular endocrinology: insulin signaling with application to diabetes mellitus and sex determination with application to genetic infertility syndromes.

Dr. Weiss earned a medical degree from Harvard Medical School/MIT Program in Health Sciences & Technology. He also has an AB in physics and a PhD in biophysics from Harvard and attended Trinity College in Oxford, England, as a Harvard Sheldon Traveling Scholar. While teaching at Case Western Reserve, he took a sabbatical to study at the university’s Weatherhead School of Management, earning an MBA in 2010.

He has taught since 1999 at Case Western Reserve, where he was the founding director of the university’s Institute for Therapeutic Protein Design. From 1994 through August 1999, Dr. Weiss was a professor in the departments of biochemistry and molecular biology, and chemistry and medicine at the University of Chicago. He was also deputy director of the University of Chicago’s National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In 2009, he founded Thermalin Diabetes, Inc., which designs and develops novel insulin analogs, and currently serves as its chief innovation officer.

Serving as a trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Dr. Weiss chairs the Museum’s Health Advisory Committee. He is chair of the board of trustees of the Summer Science Program, an intensive national and international program for gifted high school students with two campuses in astronomy and one in biochemistry. Dr. Weiss is also a member of the tri-state regional leadership council for the American Diabetes Association (Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky).