Santiago Schnell, an internationally renowned mathematical biologist who studies the molecular continuum between health and disease, has been named Dartmouth’s next provost, announced today.
Schnell is the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, where he is a professor of mathematical and quantitative biology. He will officially join the Dartmouth community on July 1, as Provost David Kotz ’86 completes his term at the end of June.
“Santiago Schnell is a brilliant, multidisciplinary scientist, a humanistic and humane thinker, and a talented administrator with deep experience of what it takes to lead a world-class research university,” President Beilock says. “I am looking forward to having him as a colleague and partner and am delighted to welcome him to Hanover.”
The provost is Dartmouth’s chief academic and budget officer, responsible for academic strategy and operations and for leveraging Dartmouth’s distinctive strengths to advance its impact in the world.
Schnell—who was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, studied biology at Venezuela’s Universidad Simón Bolívar, and went on to earn a PhD in mathematical biology from the University of Oxford—describes himself as a proponent of the philosophy of the “unity of knowledge,” the idea that all disciplines can contribute a unique and important perspective to any given problem.
At Dartmouth, he says, “I’m looking forward to stimulating that unity of knowledge and exploring how, across the schools, we can work more effectively to solve problems that make an impact beyond any one specific academic discipline.”
As provost, Schnell will oversee the , , , and . He will also play a critical role and collaborate with the dean of Arts and Sciences in the ongoing creation of a new school that is bringing the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Division of Student Affairs under a unified administrative and budgetary structure.
“What drew me to Dartmouth is its rare convergence of liberal arts education and research excellence,” Schnell says. “Human beings are historical—we flourish only through civilization and the transformative power of education. Liberal arts are essential to achieving self-determination, and research is the means by which universities seek, discover, and communicate truth across all fields of knowledge. This synthesis places Dartmouth in a position of national and global influence. It stands poised to become a unique beacon—‘vox clamantis in deserto’—for the future of higher education. Serving Dartmouth is a singular opportunity to help shape that future.”
In addition to serving as provost, Schnell will hold faculty appointments in mathematics and at the Geisel School of Medicine.
At Notre Dame, Schnell led the day-to-day operations of the College of Science’s five departments and 14 centers and institutes, overseeing a faculty and staff of more than 550 and more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Among his accomplishments as dean, he helped raise more than $140 million to support the college’s education, research, and infrastructure projects. He launched a Society of Science Fellows program to attract top postdoctoral talent—a program that has now been replicated across all of Notre Dame’s colleges—and helped co-launch a $150 million interdisciplinary Bioengineering and Life Sciences Initiative. He helped strengthen the college’s international partnerships and establish a variety of public engagement initiatives, including the popular Notre Dame Science Christmas Lecture and the establishment of a Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science—one of the first professorships of its kind in the United States. And he directed the development of a comprehensive strategy for the study and care of rare diseases, integrating research, education, and advocacy.
“Santiago won us over from day one. He is a world-class scholar and a joyful and passionate leader who knows how to help higher education institutions thrive,” says , the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor and professor of government, who chaired the advisory search committee. “He has a proven record of success and innovation. I can’t wait to see what he can do at Dartmouth.”
As a scientist, Schnell is best known for his work on understanding enzymes—the tiny molecules that power the chemistry of life. His research has helped reveal how enzymes speed up the countless chemical reactions that keep us alive and healthy, and how problems in these processes can lead to disease. One of his major contributions is the development of the Schnell-Mendoza equation, which has become a widely used tool in biochemistry and pharmacology to help scientists more easily measure how enzymes work.
Schnell also played a key role in improving the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)—a powerful technique used in medical diagnostics, forensic science, and research labs around the world. His model is now commonly used for quantitative diagnostics and to calculate how many cycles are needed to complete PCR experiments, increasing efficiency and saving time and resources in a wide range of scientific and clinical applications.
“Most of my life has been dedicated to studying enzymes, because they are the molecules that make life possible,” Schnell says. “Without enzymes, essential chemical reactions in the body would take years to happen. By understanding how enzymes accelerate these processes—and what happens when they don’t work properly—we gain crucial insights into health and disease.”
His research on health and illness, and his approach to leadership, is informed by his own experiences with chronic immune illness, including Crohn’s disease and cancer.
“I have what people call an invisible disability, but I have never let that define or confine me,” he says. “I want to be a role model to other people with chronic illnesses—to show that not only can you build a fulfilling life, but you can also contribute meaningfully to the community.”
After completing his PhD, he stayed on at Oxford as a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church and Senior Research Fellow of the Wellcome Trust at the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology.
Schnell came to the United States in 2004 as an assistant professor of informatics at Indiana University. In 2008, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in the Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics and the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, the latter of which he chaired for four years, leading the department to be ranked the top National Institutes of Health-funded physiology department in the nation and substantially growing its operating revenue, investments, and endowment.
Among his leadership roles at Michigan, he founded and directed an NIH-funded research education program designed to train engineers in the biomedical sciences. He also served as associate director of the Systems and Integrative Biology Training Program and as a member of the executive committee for the University of Michigan Medical Scientist Training Program. In addition, he established the In Silico Protein Analysis Module within the Protein Diseases Initiative, a core research facility at the university. He was promoted to full professor in 2015 and was named John A. Jacquez Collegiate Professor of Physiology in 2016.
A two-year term as president of the Society for Mathematical Biology helped him discover his aptitude for academic administration, he says. Notre Dame appointed him dean of the College of Science in 2021.
Among numerous honors, Schnell is a member of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters, was named an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, and received the Arthur Winfree Prize, one of the most distinguished awards for theoreticians in the life sciences.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Latin American Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Royal Society of Biology, and has served on the editorial boards of 10 top scientific journals.
Schnell’s wife, Mariana, is a licensed clinical psychologist with a certificate in psychodynamic counseling from the University of Oxford. She serves as a library assistant at the St. Joseph County Public Library and as a docent at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art and the South Bend Museum of Art. They have two grown children.
Schnell compares the role of provost to that of a gardener. “When tending a garden, one must provide the water, nourishment, and the necessary conditions for every plant to thrive. In academic leadership, the principle is analogous: The provost ensures that each member of the university community is afforded the resources and environment to flourish.”
The advisory search committee worked closely with John Muckle ’99, a partner and practice leader with the search firm . In addition to Nyhan, committee members included:
- Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication, Tuck School of Business
- Bala Chaudhary, associate professor of environmental studies
- Riley Flores, PhD student, Thayer School of Engineering
- R. Scott Frew, chief financial officer
- Odette Harris ’91, trustee
- Josh Keniston, senior vice president of operations
- Lisa Marsch, director of the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health and the Andrew G. Wallace Professor and professor of psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine
- Clark Paolini ’25
- Carl Renshaw, professor of earth sciences
- Alice Ruth, chief executive officer, Dartmouth Investment Office
- Scott Sanders, associate professor of French
- Jomysha Delgado Stephen, executive vice president for strategy and special counsel to the president
- John Zhang, professor of engineering, Thayer School of Engineering
“I’m grateful to Brendan, the entire search committee, and the Isaacson, Miller team for their diligent work in helping to find the right candidate for this role that is so vital to the institution,” Beilock says.
