Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., Named Executive Associate Dean for Research at UAMS
| LITTLE ROCK — Nancy J. Rusch, Ph.D., has been named executive associate dean for research in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
Rusch will continue to lead the college’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, where she has served as a professor and chairperson since 2005.
“Dr. Rusch will provide strong leadership for the College of Medicine research enterprise, as she has done while serving as interim executive dean since late last year,” said Christopher T. Westfall, M.D., executive vice chancellor of UAMS and dean of the college. Rusch began serving as interim dean with the retirement of Richard Morrison, Ph.D., who held the position since August 2017.
As chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Rusch has overseen growth in research funding and the development of nationally recognized faculty who are major contributors to research at UAMS and leaders in medical and graduate student education.
Rusch is a leader in the Translational Research Institute, where she developed and co-leads its Health Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship Postdoctoral Scholars Training Program and co-directs translational workforce development.
A leading expert in vascular ion channel remodeling in hypertension, Rusch has been on special review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. She is a past president of the Cardiology Pharmacology Division of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
Rusch received a Bachelor of Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master of Arts at the University of Washington in Seattle. She earned 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. She has been at UAMS since her recruitment as department chair in 2005.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,485 students, 915 medical residents and fellows, and seven dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 11,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.
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