Michael V. Drake, the outgoing chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, was awarded the Presidential Medal from University of California system’s president Janet Napolitano. Dr. Drake has been chancellor of the University of California, Irvine since 2005. Earlier, he was the director of education and research for the 15 health science schools of the University of California system.
On July 1, Dr. Drake will become the 15th president and the first African American president of Ohio State University in Columbus.
Dr. Drake began his higher education career at Sacramento City College but transferred and graduated from Stanford University. He earned his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco. An ophthalmologist, he began his academic career as an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco.
