Bernard “Bernie” Santarsiero, Ph.D., is a scientist, educator, and equity-driven leader whose 45+ year career bridges structural chemistry and biology, drug discovery, and higher education with a deep commitment to social justice and inclusive excellence. From early days in crystallography laboratories to senior advisory roles shaping campus-wide student success and DEI strategies, he has consistently positioned science and education as vehicles for opportunity, especially for underrepresented and marginalized communities. His work reflects a rare combination of technical depth, institutional savvy, and values-driven leadership, making him a distinctive voice at the intersection of research, policy, and equity.
Bernie’s academic foundation spans chemistry, physics, and history, an interdisciplinary grounding he first developed at Harvey Mudd College before deepening his scientific training at the University of Washington, where he earned his graduate degree in Physical Chemistry. Even as a graduate student, he gravitated toward leadership and governance, serving on the Graduate Student Council and multiple university-side committees decided to curriculum and planning. These early roles foreshadowed a career in which he would move fluidly between bench science and institutional leadership, always with an eye toward how systems, structures, and policies could better serve students, scientists, and society.
His postdoctoral years as a Myron A. Bantrell Research Fellow in Chemical Catalysis at Caltech marked a pivotal period in both research and academic leadership. Bernie guided structural chemistry projects for renowned research groups, managed the crystallography facility, and played a major role in redesigning the freshman chemistry curriculum as both lecturer and course coordinator. He also served as the first Deputy Master of Student Houses, where he helped build supportive residential environments and mediated the complex interplay between student life, academic rigor, and personal development. These experiences shaped his enduring belief that scientific excellence and student well-being must advance together.
From Caltech, Bernie’s career took him to the University of Alberta and the University of Washington, where he continued to teach and manage research facilities, and broadened his expertise with a focus on structural biology. He then transitioned into industry leadership as Division Manager at Rigaku, where he guided the development and marketing of macromolecular protein hardware and software. In these roles, he honed his ability to translate complex scientific needs into practical instrumentation solutions, working closely with customers, engineers, and research partners to accelerate structural biology and drug discovery efforts.
Bernie’s portfolio of high-impact innovation expanded through roles at UC Berkeley, Berkeley National Laboratory (BNL), the Scripps Research Institute, and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF). At BNL, he led an engineering team to design high-throughput robotics for automated synchrotron data collection and microcrystallization at the Advanced Light Source. He co-founded Syrrx (originally Agencor), a structural genomics company built on technology developed and patented at BNL, and serving on its Board of Directors through its early growth prior to acquisition by Takeda. This technology was further revised at GNF to include automated cloning, protein expression, and protein purification coupled to structural biology/drug discovery projects. These practices are now in common use at all structural biology and synchrotron facilities. Along the way, he participated in NASA’s structural biology program review, evaluating experiments for space-based crystallography.
Joining the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) marked the start of Bernie’s longest institutional home and one of his most transformative chapters. As a Research Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, later renamed Pharmaceutical Sciences, he built a prolific research program spanning structural chemistry, structural biology, natural products, enzymology, materials science, and nanotechnology. His work has produced more than 165 peer-reviewed publications and over 10,000 citations, cementing his reputation as a leading figure in structural biology and drug discovery, including contributions to antibacterial, oncology, women’s health, and immunology projects. He complemented his research by creating new institutional research facilities and helping to establish the UIC Pharmacognosy Institute with an integration of ethnobotany, pharmacognosy, and natural products research into a comprehensive framework for evaluating new technologies, and expansion from plant-based therapeutics to marine and microbial sources of new chemical compounds.
This led to several roles at UIC to expand research resources. As Director of the X-ray Diffraction Facilities, he secured multiple NIH S10 grants to modernize and expand instrumentation and served as core director for major program project grants. He acted as liaison to the Advanced Photon Source, supporting synchrotron data collection at 6 beam stations, and providing guidance to structure solution challenges across multiple research groups. Later, as Associate Director of the UI Health Biorepository and Assistant to the Director of the Research Resources Center, he oversaw day-to-day facility operations, fostered new PI engagement, consolidated biospecimen processing and storage, and helped drive a 30% annual growth in biorepository utilization. His leadership consistently centered on making sophisticated tools and resources more accessible to a broader community of investigators.
As Bernie’s career progressed, his focus expanded from purely scientific infrastructure to the structural inequalities shaping those who participated in science. He was tapped several times to help advise the Chancellor and Provost on diversity issues. Beginning in earnest around 2015, he took on roles decided to improving underrepresented minority (URM) student engagement and success in STEM and biomedical research, serving as Co-PI on a U.S. Department of Education HSI grant (L@s GANAS), and a senior leader on NSF INCLUDES and related projects. He helped design and implement programs to increase URM recruitment and retention in STEM, develop inclusive teaching practices, and foster more supportive learning environments in diverse classrooms. In these efforts, he collaborated across colleges and units, bringing together teams of faculty, staff, and leadership to build systemic responses to long-standing equity gaps.
From 2018 onward, Bernie’s influence at UIC broadened further through his fole as Director of Research Initiatives in the Offices of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Engagement. He oversaw annual reporting of diversity programs and faculty engagement, led applications for institutional designations and awards, and developed new programming and funding streams for DEI-focused initiatives. His portfolio included Latinx and African-American student success programs, LGBTQ health initiatives within the university’s health system, and strategies such as STRIDE and Bridge to Faculty that targeted both student and faculty diversity. As Program Coordinator for the NIH-sponsored postbaccalaureate program PREP, he helped achieve an exceptional success rate with more than 90% of PREP Scholars entering graduate or professional schools.
Bernie advanced to serve as Director of Research Initiatives within the Graduate College and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, and Advisor to the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Programs, Student Success, and Engagement. He helped launch URHub, the undergraduate research center that houses multiple student research support initiatives into a single campus unit. This provides an opportunity for the six program directors to more closely interact and share resources, experiential learning practices, and provide greater holistic support to all students, including low-income, transfer, first-generation, or BIPOC students. His efforts included recruiting additional external funding to a network of student success programs.
Bernie’s leadership extends beyond campus boundaries into national and international collaborations. He has held long-standing roles in professional scientific organizations, such as the International Union of Crystallography, and the American Crystallographic Association, where he has served as Treasurer, Council member, meeting organizer, and more recently, Chair of the Gender, Equity, and Diversity Committee. He has served on an international committee focused on greater engagement of women in science with significant global participation. He has served as Co-Editor for Acta Crystallographica and on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of Natural Products. He continues to champion diverse voices and engagement within the structural science community.
Parallel to his scientific and academic leadership, Bernie has a longstanding commitment to LGBTQ+ and veterans’ advocacy, as evidenced by his service on the board of American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) for over a decade; he continues to serve as Editor of the national AVER newsletter. He previously served as Secretary and Board member for the Gerber/Hart Library, contributing to fundraising, outreach, and communications. Within UIC, he co-chaired the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of LGBTQ People twice, where he worked to build a more inclusive campus climate and advocated for a Center of Excellence for LGBTQ healthcare. Through these efforts, UIC’s has improved to be a leader in LGBTQ healthcare, as designated by the HRC Health Equity Index. These roles are consistent with his broader mission: to leverage his institutional experience and personal values to advance equity, dignity, and opportunity for communities historically excluded from power.
As he transitions from full-time university responsibilities and informal retirement approaches, Bernie is intentionally seeking new board and advisory roles where he can consider to be productive, influential, and deeply engaged. He brings the lived experience of “being in the trenches” of scientific research, the entrepreneurial perspective of a startup co-founded and advisor, and the institutional insight of someone who has worked closely with senior leadership on complex, cross-cutting initiatives. Equally important, he brings a clear-eyed understanding of today’s challenges in federal funding, student access and equity, combined with a track record of creating programs that yield measurable gains in student success, research capacity, and organizational learning.
At this stage of his career, Bernie sees board service as a natural extension of his life’s work: using science, education, and governance as mechanisms for social impact. Whether advising a company in drug discovery, contributing to a non-profit focused on education or reentry and halfway programs, or partnering with organizations committed to diversity and inclusion, he offers a rare blend of technical expertise, strategic acumen, and moral clarity. Grounded, collaborative, and unafraid of complexity, he continues to champion a vision in which innovation is inseparable from equity, and where institutions are judged not only by what they discover, but by whom they empower.
Character:
Bernie’s character is defined by a deep sense of responsibility to communities that have historically been excluded from scientific and education opportunity. He consistently uses positions of influence to open doors for others, whether through student programs, faculty pathways, or advocacy for LGBTQ+ and veteran communities. Colleagues and partners know him as a steady, principled leader who pairs integrity with empathy and a strong commitment to fairness.
Knowledge:
His knowledge spans structural chemistry, structural biology, drug discovery, and research infrastructure, as well as the complex funding and policy landscape that shapes modern higher education. With more than 165 publications, extensive experience in instrumentation and biorepositories, and leadership in multi-investigator grant efforts, he brings a depth of expertise into strategic decisions that benefit institutions, students, and communities.
Strategic:
Bernie thinks in systems, not silos, and has repeatedly designed initiatives that braid together research excellence, student success, and inclusive practices. From founding, seeking venture capital, and advising a biotech startup to building campus-wide programs like URHub and PREP, he has demonstrated the ability to envision long-range goals and then assemble teams, structures, and funding to realize and evaluate them. His strategic approach is grounded in data, informed by lived experience, and always oriented toward sustainable, scalable impact.
Communication:
A seasoned speaker and educator, he is comfortable presenting at national conferences, engaging with funding agencies, and translating complex science to non-specialist audiences. His experience as an editor, newsletter writer, and curriculum designer reflects a lifelong commitment to clear, honest, and accessible communication. Whether in the boardroom, classroom, or community meeting, he listens carefully, builds trust, and communicates in a way that aligns diverse stakeholders around shared purpose.
