June 15, 2018
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today that two department chairs, Margaret McCarthy, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology, and Mark Rogers, PhD, PT, FAPTA, the George R. Hepburn Dynasplint Professor and Chair, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science (PTRS), will be taking sabbatical leave during the 2019 fiscal year. In making the announcement, Dean Reece noted that acting chairs have been named to provide leadership in these two departments during this period.
Dr. McCarthy will be on sabbatical leave from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. During her sabbatical, she will participate in various laboratory visitations and educational sessions around the country focusing on two areas critical to her research: bioinformatics and immunology.
Jessica Mong, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, will serve as Acting Chair of Pharmacology during this period. Dr. Mong is an NIH-funded scientist who studies biological sex differences and steroid actions on brain function. She was the longest serving Director of Graduate Education in the Program in Neuroscience until stepping down this year.
The Department of Pharmacology currently has 32 full-time and secondary faculty members who oversee 20 graduate students and 19 post-doctoral fellows. With more than $5 million in total funding, the Department’s research areas include: Neuropharmacology, Oncopharmacology, and Toxicology. The Department’s primary goals are to continue to increase its NIH grant portfolio, while expanding its major impact on the discipline of neuroscience and translational research.
Dr. Rogers will be on sabbatical leave from June, 2018 to December, 2018. During his sabbatical, he will concentrate on his research program, professional collaborations and development. Specifically, he is pursuing a collaborative initiative with the National Institute on Aging involving his work on balance and mobility impairments in aging. In grant writing, he is developing a plan for a national/ international workshop conference that will bring together leading researchers and clinicians around the issue of falls prevention.
Andrew Pollak, MD, the James Lawrence Kernan Professor and Chair in the Department of Orthopaedics, will serve as Acting Chair for PTRS, while continuing in his role as Chair of Orthopaedics, during this period.
The UMSOM Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science, now in its 62nd year, has 19 core faculty along with more than 70 adjunct faculty who assist with the education of PTRS students. According to the Department’s Strategic Plan, PTRS will focus on achieving recognition as a leader in education, research, clinical practice and scholarship; establishing and implementing a plan for financial growth; and increasing internal and external visibility.
“We are grateful to Drs. Mong and Pollak for stepping in and providing this leadership support, and we wish Drs. McCarthy and Rogers success in their specific research and professional endeavors in the coming months,” said Dean Reece, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, UM Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor.
About the University of Maryland School of Medicine
Commemorating its 210th Anniversary, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 43 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs; and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished recipient of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically-based care for more than 1.2 million patients each year. The School has over 2,500 students, residents, and fellows, and nearly $450 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total workforce of nearly 7,000 individuals. The combined School and Medical System (“University of Maryland Medicine”) has an annual budget of nearly $6 billion and an economic impact in excess of $15 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine faculty, which ranks as the 8th-highest public medical school in research productivity, is an innovator in translational medicine, with 600 active patents and 24 start-up companies. The School works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu/
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