Executive Leadership Team
President
Read BiographyGerald Joyce serves as the president of the Salk Institute. In addition, he is a professor in the Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics.
Joyce began his scientific career at Salk as a PhD student and then a postdoctoral scholar. He returned as a faculty member in 2017 and served as senior vice president and chief science officer from 2022 to 2023. His research program focuses on the development of novel RNA and DNA enzymes and their potential application in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. His research has led to the development of the first self-replicating RNA enzyme that is capable of exponential growth and evolution.
From 2014 to 2021, Joyce served as the director of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF). He has served previously as dean of the faculty at Scripps Research and as a member of the Technology Advisory Council of BP.
Joyce graduated with a BA from the University of Chicago in 1978 and both an MD and PhD from the University of California San Diego in 1984. He completed his postgraduate medical training at Mercy Hospital in San Diego and postdoctoral research training at the Salk Institute.
Vice President, People & Culture
Read BiographySue Bacino is Vice President of People & Culture. She leads the Office of Human Resources (HR), Pre & Postdoctoral Office (PDO), and Office of Community & Engagement (OC&E). She oversees the advancement of Salk’s mission through the recruiting, retention, and support of a diverse, world-class faculty and staff.
Prior to Salk, Bacino served as head of HR for a medical device company in Carlsbad, California. In that role—reporting to the CEO and serving as a key member of the leadership team—Bacino was responsible for the implementation of all HR-related processes and functions. Before that role, she held the same position at Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, where she partnered with scientific leadership on recruiting, engaging and retaining talent for this Novartis research site located in San Diego.
She has also served as executive director of HR for Amylin Pharmaceuticals, and she held various leadership positions at Vical Incorporated before Amylin. Her experience beyond the med-tech field includes serving as vice president of HR for Father Joe’s Villages and Breg, Inc.
Bacino earned her bachelor of arts at UC Davis.
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Read BiographyMarie Carter-Dubois is the Salk Institute’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), as of September 2025. She joined Salk from UC San Diego, where she served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer for Academic Affairs. In that role, she directed financial and administrative strategy for a $1.7 billion academic enterprise encompassing eight colleges, eight schools, the university’s libraries, and the financial aid department, among other units. Previously, she held senior financial and operational roles at the University of Washington School of Medicine, UC Davis, Stanford University, and UC San Francisco.
As Salk’s CFO, Carter-Dubois leads all aspects of the Institute’s financial operations, including accounting, grants administration, procurement, budgeting, financial planning and analysis, and investment management. She serves as a key member of Salk’s Executive Leadership Team, advising them and the Board of Trustees on long-range financial strategy and ensuring the fiscal sustainability of the Institute’s scientific mission.
Carter-Dubois received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Quebec and an MBA from École des Hautes Études Commerciales Paris. She also completed a master’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in international management from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris and the Cartier Institute for Luxury Brand Management. She earned a master’s degree and completed PhD coursework in corporate strategy at the University of Paris (Sorbonne).
Vice President, External Relations
Read BiographyMichelle Chamberlain has served as Salk’s Vice President of External Relations since April 2025. In her role, Chamberlain oversees all fundraising efforts, communications, community engagement, education outreach programs, foundation relations, and stewardship activities.
Prior to Salk, Chamberlain served as Vice President for Advancement and Student Opportunities and Dean of the Robert Day Scholars Program at Claremont McKenna College. There she led a fundraising campaign that raised more than $1 billion in eight years—a national record among liberal arts colleges. Before moving to academia, she was an attorney at O’Melveny & Myers, LLP in Los Angeles.
Chamberlain earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California, a Master of Arts in Education from Claremont Graduate University, and a Juris Doctor from Southwestern Law School.
Vice President, Chief Science Officer
Professor
Jan Karlseder is Salk’s vice president and chief science officer (CSO). He is also a professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, and the Donald and Darlene Shiley Chair for Research on Aging.
His lab is focused on telomeres—the caps at the ends of chromosomes that shorten as we get older. Telomeres regulate genome stability, inflammation, cancer initiation, and other crucial cell activities. Karlseder believes that a better understanding of telomere integrity and length regulation will lead to a deeper understanding of the aging process and age-related disease, as well as help uncover new ways to inhibit cancer.
Karlseder has received numerous awards and honors, including the V Foundation Award for Developing Scientists, a Forbeck Scholar Award, and the Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging. He earned his BS in Biology at the University of Innsbruck and PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Vienna in Austria. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University in New York.
General Counsel
Read BiographyJulia Miller is the General Counsel of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. She joined the Institute in January, 2010 and advises on a wide range of legal matters associated with the administration and management of the institute and in support of the scientific research mission, including contracts, intellectual property protection and technology transfer, legal proceedings, corporate governance, nonprofit, insurance, risk management and employment matters.
Miller serves as Corporate Secretary and is the management liaison for the Governance Committee of the Board, working with the Chair to manage the Committee’s responsibilities under its charter.
Prior to joining the institute, Miller was an attorney in the San Diego office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, practicing in the corporate department and, earlier in her career, in litigation. While at Paul Hastings, she focused on a wide range of business transactions and intellectual property matters for life science and technology clients. Miller has experience in intellectual property due diligence in merger and acquisition transactions and strategic counseling on various patent, trade secret and corporate matters. She also has represented clients in patent infringement litigation, patent license disputes and trade secret theft claims.
Miller holds a bachelor's degree in Cell Biology & Biochemistry from U.C. San Diego and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Boston University.
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
Read BiographySuzanne Page joined the Salk Institute as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2024. She oversees operational functions, including facilities, security services, environmental health and safety, information technology, and campus events. As a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, she works closely with Salk’s President, Chief Science Officer, and other leaders to define and achieve Institute goals.
Prior to Salk, Page held the role of VP of Operations at Steadman Philippon Research Institute in Vail, Colorado, where she led operations and sponsored research, and collaborated with researchers to lead laboratories for the nonprofit research institute. She previously served as COO at Longeveron, Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN), a clinical-stage biotechnology company in Miami, Florida, where she helped launch the start-up as its first employee, built out manufacturing and R&D facilities, and managed all operations, grants, clinical trials, and business matters. Prior to that, she held the position of Executive Director of Research Administration and Revenue Cycle at the University of Miami, where she helped transform the university’s research programs by creating a new department designed to accelerate research, increase revenue, and foster compliance.
Page earned her Bachelor of Science in Finance and Juris Doctor at Indiana University. She holds bar memberships in California, Illinois, and Washington.
