The Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution has announced that Professor Jianzhi (George) Zhang will lead the slate of new officers as president-elect beginning January 2015.

“Many of you know George because he has served the society in several capacities in the past, including as secretary of the society from 2007-2009,” states a letter from current president of SMBE, Brandon Gaut, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine. “After his one-year term as president-elect, George will serve two more years as president and then past-president. George's research focuses primarily on the areas of duplicate gene evolution, molecular adaptation and vertebrate sensory gene evolution.”

The Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution is an international organization whose goals are to provide facilities for association and communication among molecular evolutionists and to further the goals of molecular evolution, as well as its practitioners and teachers. In order to accomplish these goals, the society publishes two peer-reviewed journals, Molecular Biology and Evolution and Genome Biology and Evolution. The society sponsors an annual meeting, as well as smaller satellite meetings or workshops on important, focused and timely topics. It also confers honors and awards to students and researchers.