Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine, has been appointed to serve as interim executive associate dean for research following the retirement of Richard P. Morrison, Ph.D., at the end of this year.
“Dr. Rusch has been a stellar department leader, overseeing growth in research funding and the development of faculty who are nationally recognized in their fields of expertise, major contributors to research at UAMS, and leaders in medical student and graduate student education,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., FACS.
Rusch’s contributions to UAMS extend far beyond her department, which she has led since her recruitment to UAMS in 2005. She is a key leader in the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI), where she developed and co-leads TRI’s Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HSIE) Postdoctoral Scholars Training Program and serves as TRI director of translational workforce development. She has served in numerous other leadership roles, including chair of the College of Medicine’s Council of Department Chairs, chair of the Basic Science Chairs and founder of the Cardiovascular Interest Group. She has served on numerous search committees for department chairs, UAMS Chancellors, and other leadership positions.
A leading expert in vascular ion channel remodeling in hypertension, Rusch has served on numerous study sections and special review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. She is a longstanding member and leader in the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and a past president of the organization’s Cardiovascular Pharmacology Division.
Rusch received her doctorate at the Mayo Clinic and University of Minnesota. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in pharmacology at the University of Iowa and in physiology and biophysics at the University of Cincinnati. Rusch served on the faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin from 1987 until her recruitment to UAMS. She has received numerous honors since joining UAMS, including the Chancellor’s Teaching Award in 2011, the Graduate School Best Faculty Award in 2014, and the College of Medicine Educational Innovation Award this year.