Daniel Voth, Ph.D., has been appointed interim chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine, effective following the July 31 retirement of current chair Kevin Young, Ph.D.
Voth has made numerous contributions to the College of Medicine and faculty throughout UAMS in addition to his field of research since his recruitment to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in 2009. His research leadership posts have included chairing the UAMS Institutional Biosafety Committee since 2014 and serving on the committee that conducted the search for the next UAMS vice chancellor for research, Shuk-Mei Ho, Ph.D., who will join UAMS in May.
“Dr. Voth will bring strong leadership skills, collegiality and dedication to our institution to this new role,” UAMS Executive Vice Chancellor and College of Medicine Dean Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., FACS, said in a March 4 announcement to faculty.
As chair of the UAMS Academic Senate in 2016-2017, Voth worked to enhance faculty life across campus and ensure that faculty concerns were addressed quickly and efficiently to best serve the education, research and clinical missions of UAMS. During this time he also served on the committee that conducted the successful search for Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., who joined UAMS last June. Voth was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and has been approved for promotion to professor on July 1.
Voth’s research has focused on strategies used by bacterial pathogens to manipulate human cells and cause disease. He completed his doctoral research at the University of Oklahoma, where he studied the impact of bacterial toxins on eukaryotic cell signaling. Voth’s postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health (Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, Montana) and his ongoing research at UAMS have focused on the causative agent of human Q fever, Coxiella burnettii.
Voth’s host-pathogen research has been published in 43 peer-reviewed articles and invited reviews to date and has been funded with over $4 million in continual funding from the NIH through various grant mechanisms during his time at UAMS. Voth and his colleagues currently are using novel human-derived lung infection systems to define the pulmonary innate immune response to Staphylococcus aureus.
Voth has mentored numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and has lectured extensively in graduate and medical school courses at UAMS. He directed the Microbiology and Immunology graduate program for four years and served on the UAMS Graduate Council for three years. Voth has also worked to increase diversity in science, participating in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development program and the Summer Undergraduate Research Program to Increase Diversity in Research. In addition to mentoring students, he currently serves on the mentoring committees of three faculty members.