Cassis Named UK's Interim Vice President for Research

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 9, 2014) –Lisa Cassis, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, has been appointed to serve as the University of Kentucky's interim vice president for research, announced UK President Eli Capilouto. She will begin her term on June 2.

"Dr. Cassis is an exceptional scholar and is a noted leader in her field with an extensive research portfolio, focusing primarily on metabolic, vascular and obesity-associated diseases," said Capilouto. "She received broad support from her colleagues during my conversations with the deans and other stakeholders."

Cassis is also a faculty member of the UK Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences, the Saha Cardiovascular Research Center, the Barnstable Brown Diabetes and Obesity Center and the College of Pharmacy.

She is currently principal investigator on several, multi-million dollar federal grants including serving as program director of an $11.3 million National Institutes of Health grant that supports the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) focusing on obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

Cassis earned a Bachelor of Science and Ph.D. in pharmacology from West Virginia University and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Wurzburg in Wurzburg, Germany, and the University of Virginia.