The Ohio State University has named Peter Mohler to serve as interim executive vice president of research, innovation and knowledge.
Mohler, the university’s vice president for research, will transition into the role under the leadership of the current executive vice president, Grace Wang. Pending approval of the Board of Trustees, Mohler will assume the interim title on March 1 as Wang prepares to become president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute this spring.
“We are excited to have Dr. Mohler lead the university’s Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge. Ohio State continues to show incredible momentum toward the goal of doubling research expenditures over the next decade to address societal challenges and improve people’s lives and Peter has played a critical role in that progress,” said Ohio State President Kristina M. Johnson.
Ohio State has seen record-breaking growth in research and development expenditures over the last two years. The university was 12th among all universities in overall research expenditures in fiscal year (FY) 2021, an increase of 12 positions from a previous ranking of 24th in FY2020. Ohio State’s ranking also increased among public colleges and universities, moving up from 15th in FY2020 to 7th in FY2021.
Mohler has been at Ohio State since 2011, when he joined the university as director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and subsequently served as chair of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology in the College of Medicine. Mohler also has previously served as vice dean of research in the College of Medicine. He continues to serve as the chief scientific officer of the Wexner Medical Center.
“Dr. Mohler is an exceptional research leader who has spent more than a decade in the university’s proud culture of excellence,” Wang said. “He has been capably leading the Office of Research and will continue our mission to achieve the transformative impact of research, creative expression, innovation and knowledge to advance our society, and further serve our community through partnerships and entrepreneurship.”
“I am excited for the opportunity to continue to grow our research and innovation environment, and thankful to the Board of Trustees, President Johnson and Dr. Wang for the opportunity to collaborate with the university’s outstanding research and innovation community of leaders, faculty, students and staff to positively impact people’s lives,” Mohler said.
Mohler has more than 250 publications, including manuscripts in Nature, Cell, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation, Nature Medicine and PNAS. His research focuses on uncovering the mechanisms underlying abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure with the goal of designing new diagnostics.
He has received multiple awards, including being named a Pew Scholar and an Outstanding Investigator of the American Heart Association. Mohler was named an inaugural NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Outstanding Investigator (R35 Award) and leads large program grants funded by the American Heart Association and the LeDucq Foundation.
Mohler received a bachelor’s in biology from Wake Forest University and his doctorate in cell and molecular physiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and performed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Center.
Originally published on Ohio State News.