Klein named executive vice president for research and innovation

Jon Klein, a 40-year veteran of medical and higher education experience at the University of Louisville, has been named the university’s executive vice president for research and innovation, pending approval of the Board of Trustees.

Klein, who has served in the role as an interim since January 2024, will officially take the position on Feb. 13.

In his new leadership role, Klein will oversee the university’s research enterprise, including research development and administration, industry engagement, innovation, entrepreneurship and the translation of university discoveries to commercialization and societal impact.

“Dr. Klein has a wealth of experience at UofL and clearly understands our research mission and its importance as one of only 146 R-1 universities in the nation that are leaders in innovation and discovery,” said UofL President Kim Schatzel. “He will extend and strengthen the university’s reputation for world-class research, scholarship and creative work.”

Klein is a professor of medicine who joined UofL in 1985 and holds the university’s James Graham Brown Foundation Endowed Chair in Proteomics—the first such chair in America dedicated to the rapidly expanding field. He is the founding director of UofL’s Core Proteomics Laboratory and Clinical Proteomics Program. His research group was part of an international team that discovered the first blood test able to diagnose a specific kidney disease. He practiced nephrology care for patients with kidney disease for 39 years.

In 2013, Klein was appointed vice dean for research at the UofL School of Medicine.

He earned his M.D. at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in nephrology and earned his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from UofL.

“I’m honored and excited to lead the Office of Research and Innovation team and to help UofL faculty and staff continue to perform their outstanding scholarly work,” Klein said.