Steve Schwab, MD, chancellor for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has announced the appointment of Marie Chisholm-Burns, PharmD, MPH, FCCP, FASHP, as the next dean for the College of Pharmacy at UTHSC.
Dr. Chisholm-Burns is currently professor and head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. A nationally known investigator and educator, she built her reputation with expertise in improving health outcomes by novel methods of medication adherence and health care access. Dr. Chisholm-Burns will undertake her duties at the UT College of Pharmacy in the spring semester of the 2011-2012 academic year.
In her new role, she will be responsible for all four UTHSC missions — education, research, clinical care, and public service — at the statewide UT College of Pharmacy with campus locations in Memphis and Knoxville, and clinical training sites throughout the state of Tennessee. Dr. Chisholm-Burns is the first African-American to be appointed dean of the 113-year-old UT College of Pharmacy. She is also the second African-American to be named a dean in UTHSC history.
A native of Long Island, N.Y., she received her undergraduate education at Georgia College. Dr. Chisholm-Burns obtained her BS in pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees at The University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Ga., and her Master of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.
She began her academic career at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy in Athens, Ga., and Georgia Health Sciences University (Augusta, Ga.), rising to become professor of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy at UGA and professor of Medicine at Georgia Health Sciences University.
At Georgia, she founded, implemented and managed the statewide Medication Access Program. She was subsequently recruited to the University of Arizona in Tucson as professor and head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science where she was also named a professor of Pharmaceutical Science in the College of Pharmacy, professor of Surgery in the College of Medicine, and professor in the College of Public Health.
During her tenure as department head at the University of Arizona, Dr. Chisholm-Burns presided over a three-fold increase in principal investigator grant funding and six-fold increase in grant and contract funding, helping the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science become one of the foremost Pharmacy Practice departments in the nation in the area of research.
Dr. Chisholm- Burns is a recipient of multiple national awards including the Nicholas Andrew Cummings Award from the National Academies of Practice, the Robert K. Chalmers Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Daniel B. Smith Practice Excellence Award from the American Pharmacists Association, and the Award of Excellence from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. With more than 240 publications and approximately $8 million in external funding as principal investigator from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and several foundations, she is a prolific scholar. She also is a certified Black Belt in Six Sigma. Dr. Chisholm- Burns served on the editorial board of several journals including the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.