Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: Cori Bargmann Steps Down As Science Head, Stephen Quake To Take Over

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s primary goal is to prevent or manage all diseases in the future.

Cori Bargmann, the first Head of Science of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), will be stepping down from her role after six years of service, making way for Stephen Quake to take over. Founded by Facebook creator and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan in 2015 with a 99-percent investment of the couple’s wealth from their company shares over their lifetime, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative looks to address challenges such as eradicating disease, improving education, and adhering to the needs of local communities.

On June 23, Zuckerberg took to Facebook to announce the new appointment. He said that Bargmann will be returning to her lab at The Rockefeller University. She will still remain a member of CZI’s Scientific Advisory Board.

“I want to thank Cori for her leadership over the past six years. She has done an amazing job, and Priscilla and I are grateful for everything she's done to build our science work from day one. I'm glad we'll get to continue working with her as a member of our Scientific Advisory Board,” Zuckerberg wrote in his post.

Quake will transition into his new role on July 18. He has served as a co-president at Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, which is a non-profit research centre that helps foster science collaborations between UC Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford University. Quake is a Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and a professor of applied physics. He has received numerous awards for his discoveries and has been elected to several scientific honorary societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Inventors, as per a CZI press release.

Zuckerberg also announced that CZI will be expanding its science programme. “In addition to our current science work, Steve will lead the creation of the new Biohub Network as well as other new institutes we're launching, including for advanced biological imaging,” the Meta CEO wrote.

He added that CZI’s goal for the next 10 years is to “measure human biology in action and in living people, and that's part of our longer-term goal to help the scientific community cure, prevent, or manage all diseases.”