Professor Johnson earned her bachelor's degree from UCSD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley.  She was a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Dr. Johnson began her first faculty position at UCSD in and moved to UCLA to join the faculty in 2013. Dr. Johnson’s laboratory focuses on understanding mechanisms of gene regulation, particularly RNA splicing, chromatin modification and the intersection between these reactions. 

Dr. Johnson has served on a variety of scientific boards including the RNA Society Board of Directors, the HHMI Professors Executive board, the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors, and served as the chair of the Molecular Genetics NIH study section. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the NSF CAREER Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and in 2013 was named of the Top 20 Women Professors in California.  In 2014, Dr. Johnson was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor.  Until recently, she served as an Associate Dean in the Life Sciences at UCLA.

Dr. Johnson has led a number of education initiatives to support the development of students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, including the HHMI Pathways to Success program, which fosters academic success for students, in part by early exposure to research and the HHMI Inclusive Excellence program, which focuses on support for community college transfer students. She is serves on the Steering Committee for  the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), one the largest professional conferences for underrepresented students.  In 2017, Dr. Johnson received the 2017 Academic Senate Award for Career Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and in 2018 she received the Life Sciences Award for Excellence in Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.

Dr. Johnson was recently appointed as the Dean of Life Sciences at UCLA beginning in September 2020.

A member of the UCLA faculty since 2008, Dr. Adriana Galván is Dean of Undergraduate Education, a professor of psychology and is director of the Developmental Neuroscience Lab at UCLA. Her research focuses on adolescent brain development and behavior, particularly in the domains of learning, motivation, and decision-making. 

Honors include the American Psychological Association Boyd McCandless Early Career Award, the William T. Grant Scholars Award, the 2015 UCLA Psychology Department Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2016 APA Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions, the 2016 Cognitive Neuroscience Society Young Investigator Award and the 2019 Troland Award from the National Academy of Sciences. In 2018, she was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Barcelona and in 2019 the White House awarded her the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and behavior at Barnard College, Columbia University, and a doctorate in neuroscience at Cornell University.

Dr. Ellen Harju is an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. She received Bachelor of Science degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from the University of Washington. She earned her masters, Ph.C., and Ph.D. in geochemistry (cosmochemistry) from UCLA.  Her research studied meteorites to learn more about the conditions present in the early solar system. Dr. Harju has worked as a chemistry professor at the community college level and worked in programs to increase diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).