The medical school has named a new associate dean for Research.
Greg Vanden Heuvel, PhD, started in the new role February 24, 2020. Dr. Vanden Heuvel will oversee and facilitate research at the medical school, including strategic and tactical planning, the vivarium, professional development for research and scholarly activities, research recognition, research awards and research compliance. He also will oversee the roles of assistant dean for Clinical Research, assistant dean for Research Compliance and assistant dean for the Innovation Center.
Dr. Vanden Heuvel replaces Dr. Dale Vandre, who retired in February.
Dr. Vanden Heuvel, an accomplished researcher and professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, joined the medical school in 2013. He has served on the Research Committee and has been involved with and facilitated faculty submissions of extramural grant proposals. He has worked for more than 30 years on research to stem the deadly effects of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (PKD). PKD is a developmental disease that begins in utero and gets progressively worse throughout life. It causes eight to 10 percent of all cases of end-stage renal failure.
In 2014, Dr. Vanden Heuvel was awarded a $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to research PKD. He recently submitted another grant application to further his PKD studies.
Dr. Vanden Heuvel earned his master’s degree from Western Michigan University and received his PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his postgraduate education in Developmental Nephrology at Yale University School of Medicine.