Phyllis M. Wise

Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Longitudinal Study. Former Chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Internationally respected researcher and academic leader whose research has deepened understanding of how estrogens influence the brain and how this changes during aging and after brain injury. Early work established that subtle age-related changes in the brain's rhythmic communication with the ovaries herald reproductive decline. With colleagues, she focused on the role of estrogens in brain injury and discovered that estradiol profoundly protects the brain against ischemic injury by enhancing neuronal survival and stimulating the birth of new neurons. Highly respected administrator who, as dean of the Division of Biological Sciences at UC Davis, guided its transformation into a college. Then, as provost and interim president of the University of Washington, established the College of the Environment, the Department of Global Health, and the Husky Promise scholarship program, a full tuition guarantee for in-state undergraduate students. As Chancellor at UIUC, spearheaded the establishment of the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine, a unique engineering-driven college of medicine. A strong advocate for the next generation of minority and women leaders.