Dean Kit Pogliano joined UC San Diego in 1996, and became Dean of Biological Sciences in 2018. She is a distinguished professor of Molecular Biology, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology and holds the Richard C. Atkinson Endowed Chair. Her research helped establish the field of bacterial cell biology, providing insights into the mechanisms by which bacterial cells are dynamically organized and new tools to accelerate antibacterial drug discovery and the development of jumbo phage for various applications including phage therapy. As Dean, Dr. Pogliano leads the research, teaching, business operations, and external relationships of the School of Biological Sciences, which ranks in the top 10 globally and graduates more URM and female students with Biological Sciences degrees than any other school in the nation. During her tenure, the School has built corporate partnerships and mentorship programs, integrated advanced technology and computational approaches into research and education, increased philanthropic and federal funding, and built the Goeddel Family Technology Sandbox to accelerate discovery.