Santiago Schnell

Santiago Schnell FRSB FRSC is a scientist and academic leader, currently serving as the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, as well as a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics.

Early life and education
Santiago Schnell was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Growing up in the tropical rainforest, he developed an appreciation for nature and its intricate interactions with humans. His interest in science was sparked by his neighbor, Serafín Mazparrote, a Spanish biologist, and science educator, who exposed him to the natural world. This early exposure to science and nature motivated Schnell to pursue a career in scientific research.

Schnell's father, a lawyer with an understanding of the potential of computers, provided him with a Sinclair ZX81 computer when he was just 10 years old. This early access to technology ignited Schnell's interest for using mathematical approaches to solve complex problems and laid the foundation for his future work in scientific research.

He earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela and later obtained his doctorate in mathematical biology from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. He pursued his doctoral and postdoctoral research under the supervision of Philip Maini, FRS in the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Oxford. His academic journey and international experience contributed to shaping his multidisciplinary approach to scientific research.

Career
From 2001 to 2004, he was Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church (a college of the University of Oxford) and a Research Fellow of the Welcome Trust at the Center for Mathematical Biology in the University of Oxford. He was assistant professor of Informatics and associate director of the Biocomplexity Institute at Indiana University, Bloomington between 2004 and 2008. In 2008, he joined the University of Michigan as associate professor of Molecular & Integrative Physiology and a U-M Brehm Investigator in the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research. In 2013, he was jointly appointed as associate professor in the Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics. He was promoted to professor in both departments in 2015, appointed as the John A. Jacquez Collegiate Professor of Physiology in 2016, and served as chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology between 2017 and 2021. In 2021, he was appointed the William K. Warren Foundation Dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame.

Schnell is Past-President of the Society for Mathematical Biology. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of Mathematical Biosciences, and is a member of the Standards for Reporting Enzymology Data Commission.

Scholars contributions to research and education
Schnell's research program departs from the premise that there is a continuum between health and disease; if we are capable of measuring this continuum, we will be in the position of detecting disease earlier and understanding it better to intervene more precisely. His research focuses on two broad areas: (i) the development of standard-methods to obtain high quality measurements in the biomedical sciences and scientometrics, and (ii) the development of mathematical models of complex biomedical systems with the goal of identifying the key mechanisms underlying the behavior of the system as a whole.

Schnell has also focused his research attention on deriving mathematical expressions to estimate enzyme kinetics parameters under different reaction conditions. He has systematically obtained equations to estimate kinetic parameters for the family of Michaelis-Menten reaction mechanisms and determined their region of validity for the initial enzyme and substrate concentrations. Schnell derived a generic expression, known nowadays as the Schnell-Mendoza equation, to determine the Michaelis constant and maximum velocity for enzyme catalyzed reactions following Michaelis-Menten kinetics using time course data. He has also systematically investigated for the first time how the rate laws describing intracellular reactions vary as a function of the physico-chemical conditions of the intracellular environments. His work has focused to resolve the ambiguities in the quantitative analysis and modeling of reactions inside cells.

In addition, Schnell has also extensive experience in developing multiscale models of developmental processes and cancer. His work has been highlighted in popular science magazines, such as American Scientist (USA), Investigación y Ciencia (Spain and Latin-America), Spektrum der Wissenschaft (Germany).

Honors and awards
Santiago has garnered some accolades for his research and teaching endeavors. He received the Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence from the School of Informatics at Indiana University in 2006. In 2013, he was inducted to the League of Educational Excellence in the University of Michigan Medical School, and was awarded the Endowment for Basic Science Teaching Award from the same institution. He was also visiting professor of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Schnell was recognized with James S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Scientist Award in 2010. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. He is a Corresponding Member of the Academia de Ciências da América Latina. Schnell is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for distinguished contributions to the field of mathematical biology, particularly for the theoretical modeling of complex biochemical reactions and optimal estimation of their rates.

In 2023, The Society for Mathematical Biology honored him with the Arthur T. Winfree Prize for his outstanding contributions to many areas of biology, and in particular his seminal work on enzyme kinetics. Schnell's theories and mathematical modelling of enzyme catalyzed reactions have been transformative for the fields of catalysis and enzyme kinetics while leading, at the same time, to a resurgence of new mathematical biology research in enzyme kinetics. The Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conferred upon him the 2023 SACNAS Distinguished Scientist Award in recognition of his significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and the creation of a fundamental quantitative enzymological model of the Polymerase Chain Reaction.

Society for mathematical biology
As President of the Society for Mathematical Biology, Schnell implemented structural changes that strengthened the organization's foundation and membership. To allow members of the Society for Mathematical Biology to meet and interact within more focused areas in smaller groups, Schnell established the SMB Subgroups, which have been truly transformative for the Society, making more dynamics and representative for all the members of the field. He also made major gains in fundraising for the Society. His efforts resulted in a four-fold increase of the Society's endowment. This led to the establishment of awards to recognize excellence in mathematical biology at different career stages. Thanks for his leadership, the Society has the following awards: The H. D. Landahl Mathematical Biophysics Award for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, The Leah Edelstein-Keshet Prize for Women in Mathematical Biology, the John Jungck Prize for Excellence in Education, and the Society for Mathematical Biology Fellows Program.

University of Michigan
Dr. Schnell has acted as chair of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology in the Medical School from 2017 to 2021. During his time leading the largest basic science department at Michigan Medicine, he helped it maintain its status as the top National Institutes of Health-funded physiology department in the nation. Under his leadership, the department increased its total annual operating revenue from $20.7 to $26.9 million and total cash and investments from $11.2 to $17.2 million. The overall department endowment increased from $5.4 to $8.3 million during his tenure, he successfully completed fundraising for two endowed collegiate professorships, and he established an endowment to support postdoctoral program activities.

During his tenure, six faculty were elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science  and one of the Latin American Academy of Science. He stewarded an increase of the diversity of trainees in the department's educational programs, which now consist of nearly one-third underrepresented minorities. Between 2016 and 2017, in collaboration with Dr. David Brown and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, he led the development, coordination and implementation of the strategic plan for diversity, equity and inclusion of the 10 basic science departments/units in the Medical School.

As an educator, Schnell co-organized the establishment of a summer fellowship program to attract undergraduate students to gain hands-on research experiences in the department. He also led the independent funding of a summer fellowship program through an NIDDK R25 grant "Interfacing Computation and Engineering with Digestive and Metabolic Physiology Program." This program served as a template to fund two additional R25 programs, effectively creating an umbrella program which attracts approximately 75 students annually from across the nation to pursue research in our medical school.

University of Notre Dame
Under his leadership, the College of Science has launched a number of new initiatives. In the fall of 2021, the College of Science launched the first minor program in the country focusing on rare disease patient advocacy. A few months later, Notre Dame Patient Advocacy Initiative receives founding gift from Horizon Therapeutics and Dyne Therapeutics. During his tenure, the University of Notre Dame receive a $20 million gift to endow the newly established Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health. He contributed to the expansion of the University of Notre Dame East Campus Research Complex with the addition of a 200,000-square-foot science and engineering building.

Additionally, Schnell established the Notre Dame Christmas lectures; this event is an annual gift of science to the community adapted the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. He also established the Rev. Joseph Carrier C.S.C. Science Medal. This is the most prestigious award presented by the College of Science, and is given for sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science.

Personal life
Schnell is married to Mariana, with whom he shares two children, Andrea and David. A series of ongoing health challenges in Schnell's life has prompted him to channel his research endeavors into the field of biomedical sciences.