Associate Dean for Research

Indiana University Bloomington

Founded in 1820, Indiana University Bloomington is the flagship campus of Indiana University, which includes seven campuses, two regional centers, IU School of Medicine, and IU Online. IU Bloomington comprises 16 degree-granting colleges and schools, plus the Hutton Honors College, employing a traditional, semester-based academic calendar. The campus is consistently ranked among the most beautiful in the nation and is home to more than 42,000 students from all 92 Indiana counties, 50 states, Washington, D.C., and 139 countries.

Bloomington is the largest Indiana University campus and offers a traditional college experience. IU Bloomington’s mission is to create, disseminate, preserve, and apply knowledge. It does so through its commitments to cutting-edge research, scholarship, arts, and creative activity; inspired and challenging undergraduate, graduate, professional, and lifelong educational programs; meaningful experiences outside the classroom; expansive global educational opportunities while fostering a culturally diverse campus environment; first-rate library and museum collections; and far-reaching economic development and impact in the state and region.

Indiana University Bloomington has been a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) since 1909, and has since been home to 9 Nobel Laureates, 45 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 58 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and 273 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. Today, IU Bloomington is listed among the nation’s top 30 public universities by U.S. News and World Report and includes numerous top ranked programs in music, business, education, natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and public health.

Indiana University engages in cutting-edge research in science, medicine, nursing, and public health, addressing the most serious health challenges in Indiana and beyond. The IU School of Medicine (IUSM) encompasses nine campuses across the State of Indiana that include urban, rural, and college campus settings with unique amenities and opportunities in each location. The IUSM is the largest medical school in the country by enrollment, with a 2:1 faculty-student ratio and over 2,800 full-time faculty on staff. The IU School of Nursing is located on three campuses – Indianapolis (IUPUI), Bloomington, and Fort Wayne – and has a proud tradition of research addressing the most pressing issues affecting the nursing profession today. Innovative partnerships exemplify the research conducted at IU within the various schools and campuses of Indiana University and the wide range of centers and institutes found within the schools. A sampling of these innovative centers includes: the Center for Aging Research, Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cardiovascular Institute, Champion Center for Cancer Control, Center for Enhancing Quality of Life in Chronic Illness, and the Environmental Resilience Institute. IU maintains fruitful partnerships with organizations like the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, the Regenstrief Institute, Eli Lilly and Company, and the largest statewide health care provider, Indiana University Health.

IU Bloomington is host to more than 100 research centers and institutes that enable research collaboration across schools, departments, and disciplines. The IUB Center for Rural Engagement brings together communities from all across Indiana to partner with IUB faculty, staff, and students to address critical issues related to health, resilience, and quality of life. The Gill Center for Biomolecular Science fosters an interdisciplinary mix of expertise in molecular biology, genetic engineering, immunology, endocrinology, and pharmacology addressing a wide range of issues including autism, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic pain, schizophrenia, obesity, and opioid addiction. And the newest addition to the Bloomington campus, the IU Health Sciences Building at the IU Regional Academic Health Center, provides a state-of-the-art academic building for many of IU Bloomington’s health sciences programs as well as a new hospital built for the future of health care.

All of IU Bloomington’s groundbreaking research and academic enrichment takes place on a picturesque campus that is home to more than 750 student organizations, six identity-based campus cultural centers, twenty-two academic or thematic focused living learning centers, and a student body that has raised over $46 million dollars since 1991 for the Riley Children’s Hospital through the IU Dance Marathon and has funded over $200 million dollars in student scholarships through the historic IU Student Foundation sponsored Little 500 track cycling races—frequently called “the greatest college weekend.”

The foundation of Indiana University’s recently completed Bicentennial Strategic Plan included the Principles of Excellence, ten broad principles that encompass the many areas in which a great university must be excellent; the New Academic Directions Report, which precipitated the most comprehensive restructuring of the University’s academic structure in its history; IT strategic plans that helped make the University a national leader in the uses and applications of IT; the master plans for IU’s campuses; and the IU International Strategic Plan, which has helped to make IU one of the nation’s most international universities.

School of Public Health-Bloomington

Ranked the 41st best U.S. graduate school of public health by U.S. News and World Report, the School of Public Health-Bloomington is home to 2,438 undergraduate students, 386 graduate students, 85 tenured or tenure-track faculty (27% of whom are from traditionally underrepresented groups), 36 full-time non-tenure line faculty, 71 adjunct faculty, and 89 staff. Five academic departments comprise the School:

• Applied Health Science
• Environmental and Occupational Health
• Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• Kinesiology
• Health & Wellness Design

For more information on these departments, please visit:

https://publichealth.indiana.edu/research/departments/index.html

SPH-B is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) and offers four bachelor’s degrees (B.S. in public health, applied health science, kinesiology, and recreation) with a wide range of majors and minors, six master’s degrees (an MPH with six possible concentrations, as well as an M.S. in biostatistics, applied health science, environmental and occupational health, kinesiology, and recreation), and a Ph.D. degree with concentrations in biostatistics, environmental health, epidemiology, health behavior, human performance, leisure behavior, and nutrition.

The multidisciplinary research centers and institutes of the SPH-B work with academic, nonprofit, and government organizations to facilitate new approaches to critical public health issues. Currently the School sponsors six centers and institutes that exemplify historic strengths of the School’s research programs. Some examples of the critical health issues being addressed by these centers and institutes include:

• Center for Sexual Health Promotion: Based in the Department of Applied Health Science, the Center for Sexual Health Promotion is a collaborative of sexual health scholars from across IU’s campuses, as well as strategic partner academic institutions around the globe.
• Prevention Insights: Prevention Insights was established to assist alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) prevention practitioners to improve the quality of their services. In recent years, their efforts have expanded to include mental health, problem gambling, HIV prevention, and ATOD treatment.
• Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention: A joint project of Indiana University, University of Colorado, and University of Kentucky, the RCAP works to prevent HIV/STD in rural America.
• Biostatistics Consulting Center: The Biostatistics Consulting Center provides study design and data analysis for health-related research.
• Center for Underwater Science: The Center for Underwater Science is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to the understanding and interpretation of submerged cultural and biological resources with an emphasis on park development and sustainable use.
• The Indiana University Aquatics Institute: The Indiana University Aquatics Institute investigates the important role that the aquatic environment plays within the context of recreation and leisure, and its contribution to quality of life.

SPH-B faculty and students engage critical public health research through generous extramural funding from governmental agencies, private industry, and non-profit foundations in support of public health research. In FY2020-2021, SPH-B researchers received $20.3M dollars in research funding including the examples provided below:

• $1M Health Resources and Services Association grant to SPH-B associate professor, Dr. Priscilla Barnes, and the Daviess Advances Recovery Access Consortium (DARAC) to address the critical shortage of health professionals and mental health professions in the southwestern part of the State of Indiana. The project will implement and test the efficacy of a coordinated care model to increase the number of individuals receiving peer support services and mental and/or behavioral health services and reduce the number of emergency department admissions due to unintentional overdoses or other related substance use concerns.
• $2M National Institutes of Health grant to Indiana University and partner universities, led by SPH-B assistant professor, Dr. Molly Rosenberg, to determine how socioeconomic exposures in mid-to-late life affect memory decline and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia risk.
• $2.9M National Institutes of Health grant to Indiana University to expand a 2019 pilot study led by SPH-B assistant professor, Dr. Kei Kawata, to determine whether, and to what extent, repetitive subconcussive head impacts (impacts that do not trigger clinically detectable signs and symptoms of concussion) negatively affect brain health in adolescents.
• $1.7M grant from the NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to associate professor, Dr. Hannah Block to identify, in the context of visuoproprioceptive processing, the roles of sensory vs. motor brain systems in learning.
• $2M grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to associate professor, Dr. Patricia Silveyra, to investigate the mechanisms by which estrogen triggers inflammation in the male and female asthmatic lung.

Since 2018, SPH-B has further strived to be a home for personal development, as well as the development and exchange of public health knowledge. SPH-B has hosted between three and five annual workshops, reverently referred to as biguāns, with the goal of supporting faculty and graduate student efforts to write, revise, and submit proposals for project funding. An SPH-B biguān provides all-day dedicated space, silence, and continuous access to a variety of experts for five consecutive weekdays. These experts include grant writing consultants, statisticians, graphic designers, business and budget specialists, and fellow scientists—all of whom offer unrivaled support during the intensive process. To date, the School has hosted more than 10 biguāns.

The growth in SPH-B research has been both tremendous and impactful over the past several years. This is reflected in the numbers below comparing FY 2017 to FY 2021.

Associate Dean for Research

The Associate Dean for Research will work with the Dean and Executive Associate Dean of the SPH-B, as well as the broader IUB research leadership to provide strategic vision and administrative leadership to enhance and expand the research portfolio of the School of Public Health-Bloomington. This specifically includes expanding the depth, reach, and impact of its work, as well as expanding collaborative opportunities within IUB and more broadly. As a tenured faculty member in one of the five departments of the School, the Associate Dean will dedicate 50% of their effort to their individual faculty responsibilities, which includes maintaining and growing a robust extramurally funded research agenda, and 50% to the responsibilities associated with the administrative position.

Specifically, the Associate Dean for Research will:

• Lead the creation and implementation of a research strategic plan for the SPH-B;
• Identify and cultivate extramural grant opportunities offered by the federal and state government, along with partnership opportunities with private industry;
• Provide leadership and supervision for the Grant Administration Office (5 FTE) and the Assistant Dean of Research to promote research excellence and facilitate research opportunities for all SPH-B faculty;
• Create systems to provide professional development and mentoring to faculty and graduate students to enable them to successfully write, revise, and submit proposals for project funding;
• Ensure that laboratory facilities are of the highest quality and determine how to make optimal use of the 26K square feet of newly acquired space in the Innovation Center;
• Encourage and support interdisciplinary research connections with schools and colleges across IU Bloomington; and
• Serve as the School’s primary research officer, refining the School’s research incentive programs, serving as the Dean’s liaison to the Vice Provost for Research, and advancing the research mission of the SPH-B.

Candidate Profile

Candidates must hold a doctoral degree in an academic discipline directly related to or encompassed within the School of Public Health-Bloomington. Candidates need not be appointed as a tenured full professor at the time of application but should meet the requirements for appointment as a tenured full professor. A demonstrated commitment to promoting diversity in all aspects of research, education, and service is essential. Candidates must demonstrate a record of scholarly achievement appropriate for a senior career level scientist, including: major extramurally funded research grants and research training grants as a principal investigator, especially from federal agencies such as NIH, NSF, CDC, AHRQ, PCORI, EPA, HRSA, DOD, and USDA; current extramural funding; demonstrated ability to collaborate across disciplines and build positive coalitions to support and extend the impact of SPH-B researchers. In addition, the most attractive candidates will possess:

• A strong record of outstanding teaching and mentoring experience at the graduate and/or professional level;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work cooperatively and congenially within a diverse faculty;
• Ability to think creatively and strategically;
• A passion for building coalitions;
• Impeccable organizational skills with the ability to multi-task, set clear priorities, and meet deadlines;
• A strong work ethic and commitment to improving public health for all; and
• Unquestioned, unassailable personal and academic integrity.

Academic Leadership

The IU School of Public Health – Bloomington is led by nationally recognized scholars in public health. The academic leadership team includes:
David B. Allison, Dean, Distinguished Professor, and Provost Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics;
Carrie Docherty, Executive Associate Dean and Professor of Kinesiology;
Richard Holden, Dean’s Eminent Scholar, Chair and Professor, Department of Health & Wellness Design;
David Koceja, Chair and Professor, Department of Kinesiology;
Douglas Landsittel, Chair and Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics;
Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, Chair and Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health;
Eric Walsh-Buhi, Chair and Professor, Department of Applied Health Sciences.
The academic leadership team meets regularly to collectively address the opportunities and challenges of a modern school of public health. In a true spirit of shared governance, the academic leadership team provides the strategic vision for the ongoing development of the School of Public Health – Bloomington.

Location

Bloomington is nestled in the rolling hills of southern Indiana, is home to 85,000 residents, and serves as a home away from home for tens of thousands of Indiana University students and alumni. The city offers dynamic energy, spectacular scenery, outdoor activities, world-class educational opportunities, Big Ten sporting events, thriving local businesses, a vibrant arts and music scene, and unique shopping and dining experiences.

Bloomington’s admittedly unique character welcomes all to participate in community building. The friendly, safe, and inviting locale embraces visitors and ideas from across the globe. Bloomington has a thriving arts scene, rich cultural opportunities, and endless chances to explore and enjoy nature. It is #9 on Travel and Leisure’s list of America’s Quirkiest Towns, is #3 on Livability’s 2013 list of 10 best foodie cities, and has one of America’s best farmers’ markets as ranked by Cooking Light.

Nomination and Application Process

Inquiries, nominations, and applications are invited. Interested candidates should submit confidentially, in electronic form (Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF files preferred), a curriculum vitae and letter of interest to IU.SPH@russellreynolds.com.

The 12-month appointment would ideally start on July 1, 2022, although start date is subject to negotiation.

For fullest consideration, materials should be received as soon as possible and preferably by February 21.

Indiana University is an equal employment and affirmative action employer and a provider of ADA services. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment based on individual qualifications. Indiana University prohibits discrimination based on age, ethnicity, color, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, disability status, or protected veteran status.