McArdle’s Bradfield named interim WID director

Christopher Bradfield, a University of Wisconsin–Madison professor of oncology, has been appointed interim director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID).

Bradfield’s new role was announced Friday by UW–Madison Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education Marsha Mailick.

“Chris Bradfield will be an excellent fit for our Wisconsin Institute for Discovery,” notes Mailick. “He is a top shelf researcher and teacher and he’ll bring those qualities along with great administrative and leadership skills to the institute. We have no doubt he’ll lead WID effectively through this transition.”

Bradfield will assume his interim post July 1. He takes the reins of the institute from David Krakauer, who is leaving UW–Madison to assume the top leadership role at the Santa Fe Institute.

“Times of transition are always tough,” Bradfield notes, “especially with the departure of an influential leader. One major role I can play is to make sure that the scientific teams at WID continue to flourish and innovate, while also demonstrating that this institute is an important representation of the Wisconsin Idea.”

Bradfield views WID and its unique assembly of scientific disciplines as a great opportunity to address a range of important scientific questions. “There is really nowhere else like the WID in the world; it’s uniquely Wisconsin,” notes Bradfield. “In the coming years, we will look back with pride at the advances that arose from such eclectic and talented teams.”

Bradfield’s research focuses on a family of proteins known as PAS proteins, which sense and respond to either environmental signals like pollutants or physiological cues such as circadian rhythm, and can be implicated in diseases like cancer. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 research publications, book chapters and invited reviews. He also holds seven patents.

A native of San Francisco, Bradfield joined the UW–Madison faculty and the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research in 1996. He previously was a professor of pharmacology and biological chemistry at Northwestern University Medical School.

On the UW–Madison campus, Bradfield has held administrative posts as director of the Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center beginning in 2006, and as director of the Office of Graduate Support for the UW School of Medicine and Public Health since 2013.