Nelson Spruston has been named the next Executive Director of HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus and an HHMI Vice President. His appointment begins August 1.

Spruston most recently served as Chief of Janelia Scientific Operations and Programs, responsible for implementing the research campus’s strategic vision. In that role, which he assumed in October 2022, Spruston oversaw the teams that work alongside Janelia’s research labs to innovate research practices and technologies to solve biology’s deepest mysteries as well as scientific programs and conferences.

Spruston, who came to Janelia in 2011, previously served as Janelia’s Senior Director of Scientific Programs.

A neuroscientist, Spruston also leads a lab at Janelia exploring the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory, and provides leadership on Janelia’s project team steering committees.

“I’m very excited to begin my new role as Executive Director at Janelia. From the moment I joined Janelia in 2011, I knew this was a singular place. Here, great scientists are empowered to pursue boundary-pushing science that benefits the entire scientific community and, indeed, the world. To have the opportunity to lead such a community is an immense privilege,” Spruston said.

Spruston succeeds cell biologist Ron Vale, who has served as Janelia’s Executive Director since 2020. During his tenure, Vale led the research campus through the COVID-19 pandemic, started the 4D Cellular Physiology research area and the Janelia-Meyerhoff Undergraduate Summer Program, reimagined Janelia’s Dialogues series, and hosted the first Janelia Day, among other initiatives aimed at strengthening the research campus’s science and community. Vale will remain at Janelia as a senior group leader and co-head of 4DCP before returning to a position as an HHMI Investigator, a position he has held since 1995.

Erin O’Shea, President of HHMI, said, “Nelson is the right leader at the right time in this next chapter for Janelia. With his deep knowledge about what makes the Janelia model conducive to doing great science, he can help guide Janelia both strategically and operationally to pursue important questions in the life sciences.”

Spruston is Janelia’s third Executive Director, following Vale and geneticist Gerry Rubin, who served as Janelia’s Executive Director from its founding in 2006 until 2020, and is now a senior group leader at the research campus.

Before coming to Janelia, Spruston spent 16 years on the faculty at Northwestern University, where he was a professor and chair in the department of neurobiology and physiology.

Spruston received a bachelor’s degree in Physiology from the University of British Columbia, holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine, and did his postdoctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the recipient of several other distinguished awards throughout his career.