Robert Tjian, president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, today announced the appointment of Cheryl A. Moore as the Institute’s first executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Moore, 44, has served as COO for HHMI’s Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, since March 2004. She will assume the new role in September.

“This is a new position, one well suited to Cheryl’s extraordinary record of achievement and dedication to HHMI.”
Robert Tjian

Moore will lead collaborative strategic efforts and personally oversee key operational functions including Communications, Facilities, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Procurement.

	Cheryl Moore Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Photo: James Kegley A high-resolution photograph is available on request. Request a photo

“This is a new position, one well suited to Cheryl’s extraordinary record of achievement and dedication to HHMI,” said Tjian, who became president of HHMI in April 2009. “She will be a superb partner for me and a great asset to HHMI’s executive team, particularly as we identify strategic directions and implement best practices in our operations that will advance the Institute’s work as a science-driven organization that supports research and education at the highest levels.”

Moore played a pivotal role in the development of Janelia Farm and is responsible for all operational aspects of the campus and its $100 million annual budget.

“Cheryl literally took Janelia Farm from an empty building to a fully operational campus. She recruited a team who worked tirelessly to create every bit of the infrastructure from scratch,” said Gerald M. Rubin, director of the Janelia Farm campus. “We will miss her, but this represents a wonderful opportunity for her to take on a broader, more expansive role for the benefit of HHMI as a whole.”

Rubin said that he would work closely with Moore and others at Janelia Farm to identify a successor and complete a smooth transition.

“I care deeply about HHMI and its overall success,” said Moore. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to remain with this extraordinary organization and to help guide the many important initiatives that will advance our mission.”

Prior to becoming COO of Janelia Farm, Moore had served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of what is now known as the Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, California. A native of Illinois, Moore spent much of her professional career in the San Diego area where she also held top management positions with an international financial services firm and both start-up and public healthcare companies. She is a graduate of the University of San Diego.

Moore has played a visible leadership role in Loudoun County and beyond. She is a member of the Loudoun County Economic Development Commission and serves on advisory boards for a number of organizations, including the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study of George Mason University, the Virginia campus of George Washington University, and the Virginia Biotechnology Association. She also currently serves on the board of the Association of Independent Research Institutes.

Previously Moore held board positions with the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park Authority and the Virginia Biotechnology Association, and she was appointed by the Virginia Secretary of Technology to serve on the Grant Allocation Committee of the Commonwealth Technology Research Fund. Moore was named as one of the top 25 “Women Who Mean Business” for 2007 by the Washington Business Journal. Moore was nominated as a recipient of the 2008 Athena Pinnacle Award, honoring women who strive to forge paths of leadership for other women to follow.

###

Janelia Farm Research Campus

Opened in 2006 as HHMI’s first freestanding campus, Janelia Farm provides an interdisciplinary research environment for scientists studying how networks of brain cells work together to enable complex behaviors and the development of new technologies for imaging and data analysis. The campus is home to approximately 240 scientists – including 39 laboratory heads who anchor the research program and 100 visiting scientists from 15 countries around the world, as well as postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is dedicated to discovering and disseminating new knowledge in the basic life sciences. HHMI grounds its research programs on the conviction that scientists of exceptional talent and imagination will make fundamental contributions of lasting scientific value and benefit to mankind when given the resources, time, and freedom to pursue challenging questions. The Institute prizes intellectual daring and seeks to preserve the autonomy of its scientists as they pursue their research. In addition, through its grants program and other activities, HHMI is helping to enhance science education at all levels and maintain the vigor of biomedical science worldwide.

A nonprofit medical research organization, HHMI was established in 1953 by aviator-industrialist Howard R. Hughes. The Institute, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, is one of the largest philanthropies in the world with an endowment of $14 billion at the close of its 2009 fiscal year. HHMI spent $831 million in support of biomedical research and science education programs in fiscal 2009.