Corinne Peek-Asa, Ph.D., is the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and Professor with Distinction of Epidemiology at the University of California, San Diego. In her role as VCRI, she supports UC San Diego’s $1.9 billion research portfolio, leading UC San Diego to be ranked among the top Universities for federal funding and innovation productivity.

She received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology at UCLA (1995) and served as a faculty member there until 2001. She joined the University of Iowa in 2001, where she was a Distinguished University Chair, served as Director of the CDC-funded Injury Prevention Research Center, established and directed the NIH-funded International Trauma Training Program, and served as the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Public Health. She joined UC San Diego in 2022, where she has advanced growth in research and innovation. She established and served as founding director of the Office of Naval Research-funded Naval Innovation in Science and Engineering Center and has contributed to expanding innovation activities in climate, national security, health, and broadening access to programs for underrepresented entrepreneurs, as well as launching several new internal funding programs.

Dr. Peek-Asa’s research focuses on reducing the global burden of traumatic injury and violence. She has over 300 peer-reviewed publications. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and co-chairs the National Academy’s Forum on Accelerating Research on Traumatic Brain Injury. She is a founding member and past President of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research and was an inaugural SAVIR Fellow. She was named a ResearchAmerica! Public Health Hero in 2009.