About ROB
Robert Spitale, Ph.D.
PI -- CV
Associate Dean of Research
Chancellor's Fellow
Professor
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Susan & Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Biography -- 07/14/2020
Dr. Spitale currently serves as the Associate Director and Associate Dean of Research in the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Spitale joined UCI Pharmaceutical Sciences Department as an Assistant Professor in 2014, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018, and recently rose to the ranks of Professor in 2020. In this time, his research has focused on developing novel chemical and bioinformatic approaches toward understanding the role of RNA structure and function in normal biology as well as disease. Beyond his research accomplishments, Dr. Spitale has also been an active presence in the UCI community as the Director of the RNA Club and its annual symposium, a co-founder of the Chemical and Systems Biology Club, the faculty advisor for the Pharm Sci undergraduate student council, and a vital part of the development of the planned School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences having served on the Pharmacy Planning group responsible for creating proposals to the UCI Senate, UC System, and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).
Dr. Spitale received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at the University of Rochester in 2009, as an Elon Huntington Hooker Fellow, with Professor Joseph Wedekind. He then transitioned to postdoctoral studies at Stanford University and was awarded the A.P. Giannini Fellowship to support his research with Professor Howard Chang.
Honors and Awards
2020 Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Neurodegeneration Collaborative Pairs Award
2019 International Chemical Biology Society Rising Star Award
2019 Ono Pharmaceuticals Breakthrough Science Initiative Award
2018 W.M. Keck Biomedical Grant Awardee
2018 UCI Chancellor’s Fellow
2017 Pew Biomedical Scholar
2017 (a) UCI Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Grant Awardee
2017 (b) UCI Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Grant Awardee
2015 American Cancer Society Institutional Awardee
2015 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
2011 A.P. Giannini Postdoctoral Fellowship
2010 National Institutes of Health T32 Postdoctoral Training Grant (T32-AR007422)
2009 American Crystallographic Association Linus C. Pauling Award
2008 American Crystallographic Association Student Travel Grant
2008 American Crystallographic Association International Union of Crystallography Poster Prize
2008 Pittsburgh Diffraction Society Chung Soo Yoo Award
2008 Elon Huntington Hooker Doctoral Research Fellowship
2007 Arnold Weissberger Doctoral Research Fellowship
2003 Merck/A.A.A.S. Undergraduate Research Fellowship
Dr. Spitale currently serves as the Associate Director and Associate Dean of Research in the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Spitale joined UCI Pharmaceutical Sciences Department as an Assistant Professor in 2014, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018, and recently rose to the ranks of Professor in 2020. In this time, his research has focused on developing novel chemical and bioinformatic approaches toward understanding the role of RNA structure and function in normal biology as well as disease. Beyond his research accomplishments, Dr. Spitale has also been an active presence in the UCI community as the Director of the RNA Club and its annual symposium, a co-founder of the Chemical and Systems Biology Club, the faculty advisor for the Pharm Sci undergraduate student council, and a vital part of the development of the planned School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences having served on the Pharmacy Planning group responsible for creating proposals to the UCI Senate, UC System, and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).
Dr. Spitale received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at the University of Rochester in 2009, as an Elon Huntington Hooker Fellow, with Professor Joseph Wedekind. He then transitioned to postdoctoral studies at Stanford University and was awarded the A.P. Giannini Fellowship to support his research with Professor Howard Chang.
Honors and Awards
2020 Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Neurodegeneration Collaborative Pairs Award
2019 International Chemical Biology Society Rising Star Award
2019 Ono Pharmaceuticals Breakthrough Science Initiative Award
2018 W.M. Keck Biomedical Grant Awardee
2018 UCI Chancellor’s Fellow
2017 Pew Biomedical Scholar
2017 (a) UCI Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Grant Awardee
2017 (b) UCI Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Grant Awardee
2015 American Cancer Society Institutional Awardee
2015 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
2011 A.P. Giannini Postdoctoral Fellowship
2010 National Institutes of Health T32 Postdoctoral Training Grant (T32-AR007422)
2009 American Crystallographic Association Linus C. Pauling Award
2008 American Crystallographic Association Student Travel Grant
2008 American Crystallographic Association International Union of Crystallography Poster Prize
2008 Pittsburgh Diffraction Society Chung Soo Yoo Award
2008 Elon Huntington Hooker Doctoral Research Fellowship
2007 Arnold Weissberger Doctoral Research Fellowship
2003 Merck/A.A.A.S. Undergraduate Research Fellowship