Hugo Villar Ph.D., MBA

Hugo O Villar is currently the Dean of the Division of Extended Studies at UC San Diego. He oversees educational programs in areas as diverse as Arts and Languages, Engineering, Healthcare, Applied Math, Life Sciences, and Business for non-matriculated students. In addition, his office supports various service areas Corporate and Custom Programs, Innovation and Institutional Research and Instructional and Student Services, International and Precollegiate programs, and UCTV. After a successful entrepreneurial career in the biopharmaceutical industry, where he held various senior-level positions at different companies in San Diego and the Bay Area, Dr. Villar arrived at DES in 2008. Dr. Villar focused on developing new programs that provide the necessary skills to maintain a vibrant workforce. Through this process, he discovered a passion for the challenges in Higher education. He understood the importance of making available to the community the resources of the University to facilitate economic development through workforce training, ensuring healthy communities, and enriching the lives of individuals through a variety of experiences. He has published extensively on technological solutions to diverse problems in the life sciences at the interface between information technology, chemistry, and biology. This interest in using technology to improve processes and outcomes is now ingrained in his view that a balanced use of technology can be part of the solution to problems in Higher Education without neglecting the human interactions that enhance the individual experience. Dr. Villar holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina) and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Colorado. He holds multiple patents and peer-reviewed publications derived from his research.