Linda Hazlett, Ph.D., distinguished professor and chair of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and distinguished professor of Ophthalmology, and of Immunology and Microbiology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been appointed interim vice dean for Research.
Dr. Hazlett replaces Dr. Bonita Stanton, who resigned her position to become dean of a new medical school of Seton Hall University.
"A consummate medical researcher, Dr. Hazlett's experience and expertise will be vital to our research mission during this period of transition," Dean Jack D. Sobel, M.D., said in announcing Dr. Hazlett's appointment March 17.
Dr. Hazlett will maintain her duties as chair of Anatomy and Cell Biology. She will serve as interim vice dean for Research while the school conducts a national search for a permanent candidate.
"I want to assist faculty in growing the research enterprise, and my strategic focus is on large interdisciplinary projects," Dr. Hazlett said. "The more we can talk and cross talk, the ideas will really begin to flow. Collaboration will be critical, as will developing metrics. I also think senior faculty have a duty to mentor. I love mentoring and recruiting."
She joined the School of Medicine in 1971, and after a national search was named chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology in 1995. In 1989, she received the Charles Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellowship from the university. She received the university's first Interdisciplinary Program Development Award in 1991. In 2002, she was inducted into the WSU Academy of Scholars and in 2008 was named a distinguished professor.
Dr. Hazlett has secured additional funding for one of the university's longest-running grants related to vision research, the P30 Core Vision Center from the National Eye Institute of the NIH. The continuation of this grant for the 2014-2019 period amounts to $2.5 million, and keeps the grant in effect at the university for 36 years. In 2012, she received a prestigious Alcon Research Award totaling $100,000 to be used to facilitate her National Institutes of Health R01-supported research.
She is a member of the American Association of Anatomists, the American Society for Cell Biology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the International Society for Eye Research, the American Society for Microbiology, the American Association of Immunologists, and the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research/Alliance for Eye and Vision Research Board.
A widely published researcher, with 175 peer-reviewed papers and 22 book chapters, Dr. Hazlett's major research interests are ocular infection and pathogenesis, inflammation, and innate immunity. She holds two provisional patents for treatment of bacterial keratitis.