University of Pennsylvania Benjamin Garcia, PhD, has been named head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. His appointment is scheduled to begin July 1. Benjamin A. Garcia, PhD, a noted leader in the field of biochemistry, especially for his work advancing mass spectrometry techniques, has been named head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Garcia, whose appointment tentatively is set to begin July 1, also will become the Raymond H. Wittcoff Distinguished Professor. The school’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics has an illustrious history as home to some of the nation’s most distinguished scientists, including scientific innovator Roy Vagelos, who headed the department — then called the Department of Biological Chemistry — from 1966-75 and went on to lead the development of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs at Merck; and Nobel laureates Carl Cori and Gerty Cori, known for their work showing how muscles manufacture and store energy. Understanding this process shed light on treatments for diabetes.