Dr. Nancy Rusch Appointed Chair of UAMS Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

By todd

LITTLE ROCK – The College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has selected Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., as Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Her appointment was effective Jan. 1.


 


“Dr. Rusch brings considerable research experience along with academic citizenship for her service on numerous scholastic and research committees,” said College of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A. “We are glad to welcome Dr. Rusch to UAMS to lead the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology to significant growth in scholarship, funding and programs.”


 


Rusch replaced Donald E. McMillan, Ph.D., who has retired as chair but remains an active National Institutes of Health-funded researcher at UAMS.


 


Rusch comes to UAMS from the Medical College of Wisconsin, where since 1987 she has served on the faculty as an assistant professor and, most recently, a professor. She has also been on numerous academic and research committees, including serving as a member of multiple National Institutes of Health study sections since 1989, and most recently in 2002 as Chair of the Pharmacology Study Section. She has also served on numerous NIH grant review committees as well as currently working as a principal investigator on two NIH-funded studies.


 


Rusch earned her baccalaureate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, her master’s degree from the University of Washington-Seattle and her doctoral degree from the Mayo Clinic/University of Minnesota. She also completed a three-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa followed by a second post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Cincinnati.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has more than 2,200 students and 660 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.1 billion a year.


 


UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.