Milan Mrksich is stepping down as Northwestern’s vice president for research, the University announced Thursday.

Mrksich joined the University’s administration in 2011 and has led the Office for Research since 2019. According to a news release, Mrksich is leaving so he can return to full-time research at NU.

“Milan is an accomplished researcher in his own right whose influence stretched well beyond the borders of our campuses,” Provost Kathleen Hagerty said in the release. “Milan’s contributions will be an important part of our University for years to come. We congratulate Milan on his accomplishments and thank him for his service.”

In his time leading the OR, Mrksich grew sponsored annual funding to $925 million, oversaw the launch of the Querrey InQbation Lab and co-led a multi-university team to secure the new Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago.

Mrksich has appointments in the Feinberg School of Medicine, McCormick School of Engineering and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He is the founding director of the Center for Synthetic Biology at NU, and his research focuses on developing surface chemistries for life science applications.

“Research is at the core of Northwestern’s brand, and it has been extremely rewarding to grow our research enterprise, to elevate our reputation and, most importantly, to increase the societal impact of our work,” Mrksich said. “The numbers are impressive, though most impressive as a proxy for what really matters: our transformative research that drives fields forward and improves lives to create a better world.”

According to the release, the University will announce plans to search for a successor “soon.” Mrksich will align his departure date with the transition.

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Twitter: @nicolejmarkus

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