Daniel Klionsky ’80 is Alexander G. Ruthven Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Michigan. He received his PhD in Biology in 1985 at Stanford University, and was a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He is also Honorary Professor of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a National Science Foundation Distinguished Teaching Scholar. His research involves autophagy and the cytoplasm to vacuole targeting pathway. In 2004, Dr. Klionsky edited the first textbook on autophagy. He helped launch the Gordon Research Conference on “Autophagy in Stress, Development and Disease,” and served as Chair in 2005. Dr. Klionsky is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Autophagy.