Daniel E. Voth, Ph.D., has been appointed chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
“Dr. Voth has done an excellent job serving as interim chair since the retirement of former chair Kevin Young, Ph.D., last July and will bring his strong leadership skills, scientific expertise, collegiality and institutional dedication to his post as chair,” UAMS Executive Vice Chancellor and College of Medicine Dean Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., said in an announcement to faculty members.
Voth was recruited to UAMS in 2009 and has made numerous contributions to his department, the college and the UAMS campus. His research leadership roles have included chairing the UAMS Institutional Biosafety Committee since 2014. As chair of the UAMS Academic Senate in 2016-2017, Voth worked to enhance faculty life throughout campus. He also served on the campus search committee that helped to recruit Cam Patterson, M.D., as UAMS chancellor and more recently on the committee that helped to select Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., as UAMS vice chancellor for research. He was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and to professor in July 2019.
Voth’s research has focused on strategies that bacterial pathogens use to manipulate human cells and cause disease. He completed his doctoral research at the University of Oklahoma, where he investigated the impact of bacterial toxins on eukaryotic cell signaling. He completed postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana.
Voth’s research at UAMS has focused on the causative agent of the human Q fever, Coxiella burnettii. He and colleagues are also currently using novel human-derived lung infection systems to define the pulmonary innate immune response to Staphylococcus aureus. He has published extensively and has been continually funded by the NIH during his time at UAMS.
Voth has mentored numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members while also lecturing extensively in graduate and medical school courses. He directed the microbiology and immunology graduate program for four years and served on the UAMS Graduate Council for three years.