WSU research leadership joins biomed board

SPOKANE, Wash.——Two leaders of Washington State University’s research efforts have been named to the board of the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research:

* Jim Petersen, vice provost for research at WSU, and

* Dennis Dyck, professor of psychology, associate dean for research at WSU Spokane, director of the Health Research and Education Center, and coordinator of the Spokane Alliance for Medical Research.

Under Petersen’’s leadership, the WSU office of research coordinates programs which catalyze high-quality research and scholarly activities across the institution. Such programs include matching funds for equipment acquisition, start-up grants for new faculty, sponsorship of universitywide centers, and the development of new interdisciplinary research initiatives which bring added prestige and resources to the institution.

The author of two patents and more than 100 publications in peer refereed journals, Petersen has had a breadth of experience in biomedical and biological research. His research has been supported by industry, national laboratories, the Washington Technology Center, and federal agencies including the NSF and the Department of Energy. Under a highly prestigious IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training) grant from the National Science Foundation he has also coordinated interdisciplinary research and graduate education at WSU. Under this program more than 40 PhD students from a variety of disciplines worked in an interdisciplinary environmental science and engineering program at WSU.

Dyck has received international recognition for his work on the communication pathways between the brain and the immune system, and his current work on family education and support for persons with schizophrenia and related disorders is similarly recognized. He is the author of over 85 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and much of his work has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Before holding his current positions, he served as director of the Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training (eastern branch) at WSU Spokane. Under his direction, WIMIRT brought in over $10 million in grant funding. Dyck has received numerous awards including the 1994 WSU Spokane Faculty Excellence Award and the RH Institute Award for Scientific Merit at the University of Manitoba.

Last summer Dyck was named coordinator of the Spokane Alliance for Medical Research, a collaboration between private and state colleges and universities, the medical health service and research centers in Spokane, Washington, and public and private biotechnology research and development centers and institutes in Spokane and the Inland Northwest. The SAMR has received more than $1.5 million in federal support, and is undertaking sleep research as its first initiative. Biomedical research at WSU Spokane is expanding rapidly; currently, WSU Spokane has over $5 million in annual research expenditures.

The Northwest Association for Biomedical Research is a nonprofit organization committed to deepening the public’s appreciation of the value of biomedical research and its benefits to humans and animals. NWABR is part of a nationwide network dedicated to educating citizens about the biomedical research process: its challenges, its ethical and social implications, and its achievements.

Petersen described the vision for WSU’’s research as it fits with the NWABR mission. “”With our established research agenda in the health sciences, and the combination of our excellence in basic science in Pullman and translational research in Spokane, WSU plays a major role in bringing together knowledge discovery and clinical applications in biomedical research. NWABR’’s educational efforts build an understanding in the community of the significance of our work.””

With more than $150 million in annual research expenditures, Washington State University is among the nation’’s premier research institutions. As part of the university’s extensive research portfolio, researchers examine health science issues ranging from diabetes and the world’’s food supply to animal well-being and medication use through the use of state-of-the-art laboratories, clinical studies, and community partnerships.

Related Web sites:

* WSU Office of Research: http://www.research.wsu.edu

* Northwest Association for biomedical Research: http://www.nwabr.org

* WSU Spokane Research Programs: http://www.spokane.wsu.edu/research&service/index.asp

* Spokane Alliance for Medical Research: http://www.spokanemedicalresearch.org