Kevin Strange

Dr. Kevin Strange has been President of Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) since 2009. He is the laboratory's first full-time director, brought on during its transition from a seasonal research center to a year-round research institution. In his short tenure there, Strange has helped to build and expand MDIBL by recruiting some of the most creative and talented biological scientists from all over the world.

MDIBL takes a unique approach and attitude towards scientific research. Instead of focusing on independent, isolated projects, the Laboratory fosters flexible collaboration, exhaustive creative solutions, and entrepreneurial thinking amongst its scientists and students. Strange has been instrumental in driving this innovative, collegial approach to biological inquiry, raising over $5 million dollars in investment and attracting nearly 50 full-time scientists and staff.

Before arriving in Maine, Strange was the Director of Anesthesiology Research at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where he founded a much-needed clinical research program which quickly elevated the department’s prestige to “top ten” status. As an expert in the field of membrane biology, he has lead research into how animal cells cope with environmental stressors by focusing on how cells detect, degrade, and repair proteins, and how proteins are regulated on a cellular level. This work is vital to understanding human genetic signaling. Strange holds a master’s degree from the University of California Davis and received his doctorate from the University of British Columbia.

Strange excels at creating environments for efficient, dynamic scientific investigation and has been effective in building MDIBL into a pioneering 21st century research institution. He has nurtured a nimble, intellectual culture at MDIBL, where his cutting-edge physiological work is uniquely in conversation with the other environmental science and regenerative biology research ongoing at the institution.