Marie Lynn Miranda

Marie Lynn Miranda, a nationally renowned leader in higher education and geospatial health informatics, became the 10th chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago in July 2023. She also serves as a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. Chancellor Miranda brings a focus on access and excellence at scale across UIC’s educational, research, and clinical enterprises. As chancellor of UIC, Miranda has introduced five strategic priorities essential to UIC’s continued success as Chicago’s only public research university. These priorities reaffirm UIC’s commitment to student success; expand the university’s research profile; engage with the community to promote educational and health equity; forge productive partnerships with businesses, nonprofits, and the government sector to create opportunities for faculty and students; and elevate UIC as a destination to recruit and retain world-class faculty and staff. These priorities are advancing the university’s mission to provide the broadest access to the highest levels of educational, research, and clinical excellence. Miranda is also director of the Children's Environmental Health Initiative (CEHI), a research, education, and outreach organization committed to fostering environments where all people can prosper. The initiative is best known for its work on childhood lead exposure — contributing to the CDC’s decision to set a more protective standard for childhood blood lead levels, developing strategies for combating lead in drinking water, and identifying lead in aviation gasoline as a contributor to elevated blood lead levels. Before joining UIC, Miranda held leadership roles at several prominent institutions, including Notre Dame, Rice, and the University of Michigan. Miranda started her academic career at Duke University, where she was a faculty member for 21 years. Miranda is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Duke University, where she earned a bachelor’s in mathematics and economics and was named a Truman Scholar. She has a PhD and master’s from Harvard University, where she held a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Miranda is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Miranda and her husband, Christopher Geron, are the proud parents of three adult children, two English Setters, and roughly 500,000 honeybees.