Crystal M. Ripplinger, PhD, to Join the School of Medicine as Chair of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics

The UC Irvine School of Medicine is pleased to announce the appointment of Crystal M. Ripplinger, PhD, as the new chair of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, effective July 1, 2026.

​​​​​Ripplinger joins UC Irvine from the UC Davis School of Medicine, where she serves as professor and vice chair for research and administration in the Department of Pharmacology. 

As chair, Ripplinger will provide strategic leadership to strengthen the department’s renowned research and educational programs while elevating its national profile in physiology and biophysics. She will support faculty in educating, engaging and mentoring graduate, medical and undergraduate students, as well as postdoctoral scholars, and will foster interdepartmental collaboration to advance the integration of basic, translational and clinical research.

Ripplinger earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from North Dakota State University, followed by her master’s and PhD degrees in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. She completed postdoctoral research in biomedical engineering at Harvard University and in molecular imaging at Harvard Medical School before joining UC Davis in 2010.

Her research examines how the autonomic nervous system influences cardiac electrophysiology and contributes to ventricular arrhythmias. Using advanced optical imaging and neuromodulatory approaches in animal models of cardiovascular disease, her work has advanced the understanding of autonomic regulation of the heart.

Ripplinger is a fellow of the American Heart Association and the Heart Rhythm Society, and serves as a long-standing associate editor for the American Journal of Physiology – Heart & Circulatory Physiology, where she has championed the inclusion of sex and gender in cardiovascular research. Her laboratory has been continuously funded by the NIH, with additional funding from the American Heart Association and the University of California Office of the President. Ripplinger received the 2024 UC Davis Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award for her work in advancing women in STEM, and has authored more than 98 peer-reviewed publications and 10 book chapters.
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Dean Michael J. Stamos, MD, extends his sincere gratitude to Geoffrey W. Abbott, PhD, for his dedicated service as interim chair for the Department of Physiology & Biophysics until Ripplinger’s arrival in July.