Geneticist Leaves Iowa For Children’s Hospital

After two years of trying, Harvard has succeeded in wooing University of Iowa Professor of Neonatology Jeffrey C. Murray to the shores of the Charles River.

Murray will serve as chief of genetics at the Harvard-affiliated Children’s Hospital Boston and as a professor of pediatrics.

“Jeff is the guru in the field,” said John B. Mulliken, a Harvard Medical School (HMS) professor of surgery, whose specialty is performing surgery on children with cleft palates.

“He is the most well-respected molecular geneticist out there.”

Murray’s work focuses on the genetic and environmental causes of birth defects like cleft palates. He uses “candidate gene searches” to analyze how the interaction of different genes causes cranialfacial disorders, and has done research on populations in the Philippines and South America.

“Jeff’s work is admirable in trying to forge ahead in something that is really not at all clear,” said David R. Beier, an associate professor of medicine at HMS who has known Murray “as a buddy” for a long time.

Many birth defects, like cystic fibrosis, are monogenic, or the result of one mutation on a gene.

Murray’s work analyzes the larger class of disorders, polygenic ones.

“As you can imagine, the analysis of this kind of thing is considerably more complicated,” said Richard L. Haas, an HMS professor of medicine.

At Harvard, Murray said he is looking forward to having access to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital labs, which house fully mapped genetic models of mice.

Murray will bring more than his research to the University.

“Jeff is kind of irreverent and he will definitely bring a quality of unstuffiness to the table,” said Beier.

“This is a guy who interviewed in a t-shirt.”

Steve J. Maravetz, senior assistant director of health science relations at the University of Iowa, said that the University would miss, among other things, the grant money that Murray attracted.

“But what we’re really going to miss is Jeff as a person,” he said. “He excited young people in the lab and he allowed them to grow. And in a world where people are not lacking in self-esteem, Jeff is a wonderfully grounded person.”

Murray said his Boston roots, and family in the area, played into his decision to come to Harvard as well.

“It is very hard for us to leave Iowa because we both have wonderful jobs,” he said.

“But Boston feels like home for us.”

Murray lived in Boston for 15 years and attended MIT as an undergraduate and Tufts as a graduate student.

His wife’s family is also located in Massachusetts.

“I am very much looking forward to coming,” Murray said.

“I think Harvard holds out a lot of opportunities for people like me who are looking to build collaborations across fields.”