Thomas Pollard

Tom Pollard joined the Yale faculty in 2001 and is now Sterling Professor of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology with appointments in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and in Cell Biology. In addition to being responsible for graduate education, he and Mary Miller, Dean of Yale College, share the responsibilities of the dean of the faculty. Tom graduated with honors from Pomona College in 1964, taking a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Zoology, and received his M.D. with honors from Harvard Medical School. As a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins Medical School, the Salk Institute and now at Yale, Tom’s research group has focused on the molecular basis of cellular motility and cell division. In addition to research and teaching, Tom chaired his departments at the Johns Hopkins Medical School and Yale, was President of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and served as president of two scientific societies. His honors include the Gairdner International Award, E.B. Wilson Award from the American Society for Cell Biology and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine.