Walter Chazin, Chancellor’s Chair in Medicine and professor of biochemistry and chemistry, has been named senior associate dean of Biomedical Research Education and Training. Kathleen Gould, Louise B. McGavock Chair, stepped down from the role after 14 years with the BRET office to return her focus to her research program in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.
“I am grateful to Professor Gould for her leadership and dedication to Vanderbilt’s graduate students and postdoctoral fellows,” said John Kuriyan, dean of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences. “I look forward to continuing to work with her in her faculty position.”
Chazin joined Vanderbilt in 1999 and has brought the university to the forefront of integrative structural biology, growing its research community to more than 150 scientists. Chazin is the founding director of the Center for Structural Biology and the director of the Chemical and Physical Biology Ph.D. program and the molecular biophysics training program. The MBTP is sponsored by the CSB and a T32 training grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The BRET office provides support and resources for Vanderbilt biomedical Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty who train graduate students and postdocs. They are committed to fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion for all trainees and community members and are intentional about recruiting, retaining, and supporting diverse and underrepresented groups.
In his new role, Chazin leads the BRET office staff and programs, which include the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical and Biological Sciences, the Quantitative and Chemical Biology program, the Career Development ASPIRE Program, the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development, the Office of Outcomes Research, summer programs, health and wellness initiatives, and more.
Gould, his predecessor, was appointed associate dean of BRET in 2012 and senior associate dean in 2021, having served as director of Graduate Studies for Cell and Developmental Biology starting in 2006 and having created and directed the Vanderbilt International Scholar Program from 2010 to 2016. She was responsible for leading the development and implementation of the ASPIRE program, the revision of the first-year curriculum of the IGP, the partnership with the offices of faculty development within the School of Medicine to institute faculty mentor training, and multiple other initiatives aimed at improving the training environment for students and postdocs.
“Graduate students are the lifeblood of the scientific enterprise, and biomedical training continues to be the cornerstone of our work,” Kuriyan said. “I am continuously impressed by the BRET team’s recruitment and support of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and am confident that Professor Chazin will not only maintain but also accelerate this trajectory.”
To learn more about BRET visit: https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/bret/