In Memoriam

Remembering David Mangelsdorf, Ph.D.

By W. Lee Kraus

The Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences is saddened by the loss of our long-time advocate, colleague, and friend David Mangelsdorf, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Pharmacology who passed away on August 3, 2025. Dr. Mangelsdorf’s passing is a tremendous loss for the Center, UT Southwestern, and the broader scientific community. He was a tremendous leader and visionary, who helped shaped the vision for the current Green Center.

Dr. Mangelsdorf’s affiliation with the Green Center began when he assumed the role of Interim Director in 2006 when the Center was affiliated with the Department of Pharmacology. Dr. Mangelsdorf continued in this role until he recruited Dr. W. Lee Kraus from Cornell University to assume the role of Director in 2010. Together with Dr. Al Gilman, who was the Dean of UT Southwestern at the time, Dr. Mangelsdorf developed a plan to return the Green Center to its historical roots in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology on South Campus Dr. Mangelsdorf also advocated for the Center’s autonomy, which it achieved in 2019.

Dr. Mangelsdorf continued to support the Green Center as one of eight members of a review committee that evaluated the Center in 2016 and 2023. In 2024, Dr. Mangelsdorf spoke of his time as director at the Center’s 50th anniversary Regulatory Biology and Chromatin Symposium, as well as his efforts to recruit Dr. Kraus. The Mangelsdorf-Kliewer lab has also collaborated with Dr. Kraus’s lab on a project involving the regulation of gene expression by ethanol in the liver.

We are all grateful for his vison and support of the Green Center. He will be sorely missed.