RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Alan I. Faden, M.D., a professor of neuroscience at Georgetown University, will share his vision for UC Riverside’s Health Sciences Research Institute (HSRI) in an open forum on campus at 4 p.m., Monday, March 26, in the Statistics Building, room B650.
The HSRI, which aims to strengthen and focus research and graduate education in the biomedical and health sciences on campus, is in the process of recruiting its founding director. Faden, the founding director of the Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Sciences, is the third finalist to visit campus, after Dartmouth Medical School’s Randolph J. Noelle and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology’s Carl Ware.
“The HSRI should establish an internationally recognized research program that expands and complements biomedical research at UC Riverside; that enhances and provides new educational opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate level; and that helps to create the academic base to support a highly competitive four year medical school,� Faden said. “Proposed areas of focus would be neuroscience and oncology, with connecting sub-themes related to aging and development.�
According to Dr. Faden’s vision, major HSRI research topics would include neurodegeneration, neuroplasticity and regeneration, as well as stem cell biology. Key technology areas would be enhanced or developed to support the research effort and to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations, including systems biology, nanotechnology, molecular imaging, and medicinal chemistry.
Dr. Faden’s vision includes also an emphasis on establishing strategic partnerships with other universities, industry and government to maximize the effectiveness and productivity of the new institute, as well as to promote the translational potential of its research.
“Dr Faden is a world-renowned neurologist with over 300 peer-reviewed science publications,� said Ameae Walker, a professor of biomedical sciences and co-chair, along with Michael Pirrung, professor of chemistry, of the search committee for the HSRI director. “His extensive administrative experience and superb scholarship qualify him as an outstanding candidate.�
From 1991-1996, Dr. Faden served as the first dean of research at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and as scientific director of the Medical Center. At Georgetown, he also was associate dean for biomedical sciences in the Graduate School, and directed the M.D./Ph.D. program.
Before joining Georgetown, Dr. Faden was a professor and vice-chair of the Department of Neurology at UC San Francisco, as well as chief of neurology at the Veterans Administration Medical Center and director of the Center for Neural Injury. Currently, he is the president of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics.
Dr. Faden’s research interests include molecular/cellular neuroscience and genomics related to cell death and neurodegeneration, with a strong translational component that includes drug discovery.
The HSRI aims to bring together researchers from all sectors of health research to help produce ground-breaking discoveries in biomedical/health research. The vision for the institute includes association with the proposed UCR medical school that would attract strong clinical researchers and offer unique graduate and professional programs in health.
Other finalists for the position of HSRI Director, each of whom will present seminars on his/her vision for the institute are: Jean Schwarzbauer, professor of molecular biology, Princeton University, April 9; and Richard Bergman, Keck Professor of Medicine (physiology and biophysics), University of Southern California, April 11. Both vision seminars will take at 4 p.m. at campus locations to be determined.