Alan Tackett, Ph.D., distinguished professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and deputy director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), has been appointed executive associate dean for basic science research in the UAMS College of Medicine.
“Dr. Tackett has served in many research leadership roles at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s and has an extensive portfolio of successful grants and scholarly accomplishments, Steven Webber, MBChB, MRCP, College of Medicine Dean and UAMS Executive Vice Chancellor,” said in an Aug. 23 announcement to faculty. “Alan will provide excellent leadership as we work to expand basic science programs in the College of Medicine.”
“I look forward to working with faculty colleagues, administration and leadership in the UAMS College of Medicine to take our research enterprise to the next level,” said Tackett. “We will look to build upon strategic partnerships and collaborations across UAMS, our state, and beyond to address pressing biomedical research questions that impact human health across the lifespan.”
Tackett has served as deputy director of the Cancer Institute since 2021. He has directed the Center for Translational Pediatric Research (CTPR) – a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) – in the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute since 2017. Tackett has directed the NIH IDeA National Resource for Quantitative Proteomics at UAMS since 2016. He has also served on numerous institutional committees.
Tackett earned his doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology at UAMS under the mentorship of Kevin Raney, Ph.D., graduating in 2002. He completed postdoctoral training in cancer epigenetics and proteomics at the Rockefeller University in New York. He joined the UAMS faculty in 2005 and rose through the academic ranks to become a distinguished professor in 2023. He holds secondary faculty appointments in the College of Medicine departments of Pathology and Pediatrics.
While serving on the UAMS faculty, Tackett has built an internationally recognized research team focused on uncovering new therapeutic strategies to treat metastatic melanoma and developing the next generation of molecular profiling technologies to identify cancer biomarkers. He has been funded as principal investigator by five different NIH institutes for both basic and translational research across the biomedical research spectrum. He has been continuously funded by the NIH throughout his career, with more than $40 million in federal funding to date, and currently serves as a principal investigator of four R01s, one R21, and two center-level grants.
Tackett has published more than 150 scientific articles and holds multiple patents stemming from his research. He has shared his expertise on more than 60 NIH study sections and review panels. He is currently vice-president and president-elect of the National Association of IDeA Principal Investigators.
Among many honors, Tackett has served since 2016 as the inaugural recipient of the Scharlau Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at UAMS. He was named Investigator of the Year by the Arkansas Biosciences Institute in 2018, was named a Fellow of the Arkansas Research Alliance in 2021. He will be recognized by his undergraduate alma mater this year as a Hendrix College Odyssey Medal recipient for research.