Patrick Grant, PhD
We are pleased to announce that Patrick A. Grant, PhD, has accepted the position of Associate Dean for Graduate and Medical Scientist Programs, effective September 1, 2019.
After earning his BSc in biology and parasitology with honors (1989) at the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, Dr. Grant went on to earn his PhD in medicine (1995) at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and did postdoctoral work as an American Cancer Society fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Penn State University (1995-99). He came to UVA as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics in 2000 and was tenured as an Associate Professor in 2007. In 2013, he was a Visiting Scientist at GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, UK.
Dr. Grant’s current research interests involve the epigenomics of cellular proliferation in yeast, genomic modifications that mediate resistance to genotoxic cancer chemotherapeutics, the epigenetic basis and therapeutic interventions for disease in SCA7, and, in collaboration with Dr. Wendy Lynch, the molecular mechanisms underlying the efficacy of exercise as an intervention for cocaine relapse and opioid addiction. He is currently PI on an R01 and co-PI on another. He has received funding from the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, NIH’s NIDDK, NIGMS, NINDS, and as a collaborator from NIDA and NCI.
A respected educator and mentor for medical, graduate, and undergraduate students, Dr. Grant has received teaching awards that include the 2019 Jefferson Scholars Foundation Award, the School of Medicine Award for Excellence in teaching, and, three times, the medical student-nominated Mullholland Award. He has extensive experience with multiple graduate/medical programs and training grant membership, national and international scientific review panels, journal editorial boards, and a standing membership on the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s meetings committee. To date, he has served on 77 dissertation/thesis committees across Grounds, including those of 13 PhD or MD/PhD students mentored in his lab.
Dr. Grant will build on the initiatives introduced by Amy Bouton, former Associate Dean for Graduate and Medical Scientist Programs. He will enhance the BIMS graduate program with new certificates or areas of emphasis, such as leadership, non-academic pathways, and entrepreneurship. He will work with the Data Sciences Institute and the Department of Public Health Sciences to develop and implement a PhD program in computational biology.
Thank you to the search committee members for their time, focus, effort, and insight in helping to select the best-qualified candidates to lead our office. And thank you to Dr. Bouton for almost ten years of service as Associate Dean. During her tenure, she oversaw the renovation of the former Mulholland Lounge into permanent graduate student space, led the evaluation and overhaul of the BIMS program, transferred the PhD degrees to the School of Medicine, and collaborated with the Medical Alumni Association to take on the PhD programs as part of their ongoing activities.
Congratulations to Dr. Grant. He is well-qualified as an investigator, teacher, and mentor to take our graduate programs to a new level of excellence.
R.J. Canterbury, MD, MS, DLFAPA
Senior Associate Dean for Education
Wilford W. Spradlin Professor
Margaret A. Shupnik, PhD
Gerald D. Aurbach Professor of Endocrinology
Senior Associate Dean for Research