People: Faculty News


2024-25 Annual Report: Realizing Our Vision

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Cover art of the 2024-25 Annual Report

In the two years since the 2023-28 Strategic Plan launched, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has worked to make our vision – Healthy Tennesseans. Thriving Communities. – a reality. By training the future of health care, delivering exceptional care in hospitals and clinics across Tennessee, conducting top-tier research, and engaging communities statewide, our… Read More


Dr. John Cox Awarded $3.68 Million to Study How Chlamydia Bacteria Reproduce

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Headshot of Dr. John Cox

John Cox, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has received a $3.68 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to better understand how the bacterium that causes chlamydia reproduces. The research could lead to better ways to… Read More


Dr. Charleen McNeill Selected as Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing

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Headshot of Charleen McNeill

Charleen McNeill, PhD, MSN, RN, executive associate dean of Academic Affairs for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Nursing, has been selected to become a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Induction into the academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by… Read More


‘I Just Love Helping People,’ New Executive Dean of the College of Medicine Says

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Photo of Dr. Mike Hocker

The new executive dean for the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center got his start in health care while in high school, helping out at his uncle’s ambulance company in his hometown of Littleton, Colorado, near Denver. “When I was still in high school, I got my EMT (emergency medical… Read More


20 People Receive Gift of Sight During Eighth-Annual Cataract-A-Thon

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Photo of surgery

Nik Hopkins, MD, was a medical student at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center when the Hamilton Eye Institute hosted the first Ivan Marais Cataract‑A‑Thon in 2017. Since then, he had hoped to do his part to provide free, vision-restoring surgeries to people in need. “I was amazed at how many people of different… Read More


Cardiovascular Risk Higher for Individuals with Sickle Cell Trait, Study Led by UT Health Science Center Physician Concludes

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Headshot of Dr. Ugochi Ogu

African Americans with sickle cell trait (SCT) have 39% higher odds of acute heart failure compared to non-African Americans with SCT, according to a study led by Ugochi Ogu, MD, associate professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and the medical director of the Diggs-Kraus Comprehensive Sickle Cell… Read More


Chancellor Buckley Honored to Join Alliance of Academic Health Centers International Steering Committee

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Photo of Chancellor Peter Buckley.

Peter Buckley, MD, chancellor of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has been appointed to the steering committee of the Alliance of Academic Health Centers International (AAHCI). AAHCI is a global network of academic health centers and systems with a mission to advance health, education, and research through collaboration. Chancellor Buckley, a psychiatrist who emigrated from Ireland… Read More


College of Pharmacy Launches Innovative Graduate Certificate Program in Clinical and Translational Pharmacy

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Photo of the College of Pharmacy Building

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy is launching a new graduate certificate program in Clinical and Translational Pharmacy (CTP), aimed at pharmacists and health care professionals eager to deepen their expertise in applied research. This one-year, 12-credit, fully asynchronous online program focuses on clinical and translational science in pharmacy and health… Read More