Enrique M. De La Cruz, PhD

Enrique M. De La Cruz, PhD is Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (MB&B) and Head of Branford College at Yale University. He is a first-generation Cuban-American who was raised in Newark, NJ. Dr. De La Cruz received his undergraduate degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Rutgers University, Newark College of Arts and Sciences, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Beta Beta Honor Societies. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry, Cell & Molecular Biology (BCMB) with Dr. Thomas D. Pollard at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and received postdoctoral training in the laboratories of Drs. H. Lee Sweeney and E. Michael Ostap at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He was a Visiting Scientist at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) & Université Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France in 2009, a Mayent-Rothschild Senior Researcher Fellow at the Institut Curie, Paris in 2015, and an Invited Professor Fellow at ESPCI Paris Tech (école supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris), Paris in 2016 and in 2019. Dr. De La Cruz’s research focuses on the actin cytoskeleton, molecular motor proteins, and nucleotide signaling enzymes. Dr. De La Cruz is currently involved with various scientific societies, journals and peer review committees, and actively participates in a number of outreach programs focused on enhancing minority participation and career development in the sciences.