The University of Kentucky College of Medicine is pleased to announce that after a nationwide search, Noah Weisleder, PhD, has been selected to serve as the chair of molecular and cellular biochemistry.
Dr. Weisleder will begin this role on Sept. 1. In addition, he will serve as a professor with tenure in the regular title series.
Dr. Weisleder joins the UK College of Medicine from The Ohio State University, where he was a professor of physiology and cell biology and a director of graduate studies. For four years, he was also director of the Ohio State Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, working closely with learners and overseeing his university’s postdoctoral curriculum and related activities.
As chair, Dr. Weisleder will be tasked with fostering current projects while helping his new department recruit and retain outstanding scientists, staff, and learners. He will mentor current faculty to succeed in their academic careers, advance educational opportunities, promote interdisciplinary research across the college, and engage in future philanthropic efforts, among other responsibilities. This will require recruiting and developing more of the best and brightest faculty and staff to help further build and establish the department.
The growing research programs in the department will attract more students and postdoctoral scholars, and therefore, the department will also focus on innovative education and mentoring efforts to prepare them for their career paths. All of these goals can be accomplished while striving to provide a just and equitable community where all receive the support they need to grow toward their ambitions.
“We are excited to see what Dr. Weisleder can help us accomplish for biomedical faculty, staff, and trainees. His expertise and exceptional character will be imperative to continuing the positive trajectory of our molecular and cellular biochemistry department,” said Chipper Griffith, MD, MSPH, dean of the UK College of Medicine.
During his academic career, Dr. Weisleder has contributed to hundreds of publications and projects centered on muscle physiology, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and more. His work on neuromuscular diseases is international in scope and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and multiple private foundations.
He has also played a role in multiple U.S. and international patents, inventions that helped lead to the formation of multiple biotechnology companies that develop protein therapeutics for regenerative medicine applications. Dr. Weisleder served as a founder and chief scientific officer for TRIM-edicine while being awarded the Kauffman Foundation Outstanding Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Award.
Other honors throughout Dr. Weisleder’s career include being selected as a NASA Spaceflight Technology, Applications, and Research (STAR) Scholar; receiving the Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award (2019), Postdoctoral Mentor of the Year Award (2016) and Faculty Achievement Award (2015) at The Ohio State University; and being elected president of the Ohio Physiological Society in 2015.
Before joining The Ohio State University in 2016, Dr. Weisleder had his first faculty appointment as an assistant professor in the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Department of Physiology and Biophysics. He received his PhD from the Baylor College of Medicine and his bachelor’s degree from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
The college would like to thank Tianyan Gao, PhD, and Trevor Creamer, PhD, for filling the chair role in an acting capacity until a permanent selection could be made. Their leadership has been valuable to our college, and the department was able to sustain its level of excellence thanks to their contributions. We also would like to thank the search committee members for their time and effort in helping the college select a great candidate to fill this role.