Richard P. Morrison Named Chairman of UAMS Department of Microbiology and Immunology

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – Richard P. “Rick” Morrison, Ph.D., has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as chairman of the Department Microbiology and Immunology in the UAMS College of Medicine.


 


Morrison served as a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) from 2004-2007 and as an associate professor at UAB from 1994 to 1997.


 


A Montana native, Morrison was an associate professor from 1997-2002 and a full professor from 2002-2004 in the Department of Microbiology at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman, Mont. He served in various post-doctoral and staff scientist positions at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., from 1982-1994. 


 


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has provided ongoing support for Morrison’s research into immunity to chlamydial genital infection, and he recently received renewed funding through 2010. His studies have led to seminal findings in the field of chlamydial pathogenesis and immunology.


 


Morrison received his doctoral degree from the University of Oklahoma and has previously served as divisional chairman and councilor for the American Society for Microbiology. He was chairman for the Microbiology and Immunology Study Section of the American Heart Association for four years and is a member of the NIAID Host Interactions with Bacterial Pathogens Study Section. 


 


Among his honors include the NIH Award of Merit and the Wiley Award for Meritorious Research at MSU. He became an elected fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology in 1994 and in 2006 became an editor for Infection and Immunity.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,430 students and 715 medical residents. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 9,400 employees, including nearly 1,000 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. For more information, visit www.uams.edu.