Santiago Schnell earned his bachelor's degree in biology from Venezuela before completing his doctoral studies in mathematical biology at the University of Oxford in 2002. Subsequently, he secured two prestigious research fellowships at the same institution before taking an assistant professorship at Indiana University in 2004. Santiago was appointed associate professor in the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology of the University of Michigan Medical School in 2018. He was promoted to full professor in 2015, followed by his appointment as department chair of Molecular & Integrative Physiology, a role he held from 2017 to 2021. Notably, in 2021, Santiago was appointed the William K Warren Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame.
Santiago’s research program is based on the belief that health and disease exist as a continuum; the ability to measure this continuum would provide better opportunities for early detection and understanding of diseases, leading to more precise interventions. Santiago is internationally renowned for his pioneering research, which has significantly advanced our quantitative understanding of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. His most notable achievement is the formulation of the Schnell-Mendoza equation, a streamlined method for determining the physical constants of enzymes in both basic science and clinical laboratories. Furthermore, he has made significant contributions to the foundational enzymological quantitative model of the Polymerase Chain Reaction, an indispensable technique in the fields of life sciences, medical diagnostics, and forensic science.
Throughout his career, Santiago has garnered numerous accolades for his research and teaching endeavors. These include the Arthur Winfree Prize and the Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Award bestowed by the US National Academy of Medicine. His distinguished status is underscored by his membership as a fellow of the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Royal Society of Biology, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Productive Failure: Transforming Setbacks into Breakthroughs
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