Jerry Krishnan, MD, PhD Appointed Interim Vice Dean for Research
Title
Jerry A. Krishnan, MD, PhD, has been appointed Interim Vice Dean for Research, effective March 16, 2026. Dr. Krishnan will continue to serve in his current role as Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.
As Vice Dean, Dr. Krishnan will provide leadership and strategic direction for the basic, clinical, and translational research enterprise of the University of Illinois College of Medicine across all campuses. He will collaborate with college and university leaders to foster a culture of research excellence, strengthen the college’s research portfolio, and ensure integration of research with the clinical and educational missions.
Dr. Krishnan will oversee key research centers and initiatives across the College of Medicine, including the Center for Cardiovascular Research, Center for Global Health, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Center for Research on Women and Gender, AIHealthcare4All, Health Awareness and Research on Menopause (CHARM), and the Translational Neuroscience Initiative. He will support these centers and initiatives to ensure alignment with college priorities, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and advance innovative approaches to improving health outcomes.
Additional college-level responsibilities include providing guidance and mentorship to faculty in developing their research programs and fostering collaborations; overseeing graduate education, including the master’s and PhD degree programs; allocating research resources, including budget management, laboratory space, and shared services; and ensuring compliance with institutional policies, regulatory requirements, and ethical standards. Bellur Prabhakar, MSc, PhD, Interim Senior Associate Dean for Research, will work with Dr. Krishnan in these activities.
Dr. Krishnan received his MD with Honors from Baylor College of Medicine and completed residency training in internal medicine and fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland. He earned a PhD in Clinical Investigation from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Dr. Krishnan is an expert in the design and implementation of multicenter cohort studies, clinical trials, and practice guidelines in chronic lung disease, COVID-19, and Long COVID. Dr. Krishnan has served on numerous national research advisory committees, including as past Chair of the FDA Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee, past Chair of the NHLBI/NIH Clinical Trials Review Committee, current Chair of the NHLBI/NIH Observational Study Monitoring Board for the U.S. ARDS, Pneumonia, and Sepsis (APS) Phenotyping Consortium, and member of the Scientific Oversight Committee for the NIAID/NIH RECOVER Treating Long COVID clinical trials consortium. He previously served as President of the Central Society for Clinical and Translational Research and continues to teach research methodology in low- and middle-income countries through the American Thoracic Society’s Methods in Epidemiologic, Clinical, and Operations Research (MECOR) Program. He has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been recognized by several organizations, including the Parker B. Francis Foundation, the American Thoracic Society, the American Respiratory Care Foundation, and the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition.