- Burnett School College of Medicine
Dr. Sampath Parthasarathy has been named the College of Medicine’s Associate Dean for Research after serving as Interim Dean for the past year. In making the announcement, Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and dean, said the promotion “recognizes Dr. Parthasarathy’s exemplary scientific career and strong collaborative leadership.”
A world renowned cardiovascular scientist, Dr. Parthasarathy is the co-discoverer of the major cardiovascular concept that oxidized LDL cholesterol blocks arterial vessels in the heart. That work earned a nomination for the Nobel Prize. He joined UCF in 2011 as the holder of the College of Medicine’s Florida Hospital Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Science and has held university endowed positions for more than 20 years.
Over the past year as Interim Associate Dean, Dr. Parthasarathy helped build new research partnerships between College of Medicine scientists and clinicians as well as collaborative projects with researchers across the university and community. He organized training and networking events to encourage these collaborations. Dr. Parthasarathy mentored young research faculty and clinical faculty interested in research and led a series on grant-writing seminars to help faculty better compete for research grants. “He did this work while still running a very active lab and finding time to be at the research bench himself,” Dr. German said. “He initiated his own collaborative research efforts on conditions ranging from Crohn’s disease to public health. This year alone he has submitted two large interdisciplinary grant proposals that if funded would total more than $50 million. He is also organizing an international research conference on inflammation.”
On February 9, colleagues of Dr. Parthasarathy, including graduate students and post-doctoral candidates who work in his lab, congratulated him on the promotion with a surprise party.
An entrepreneur who holds more than 20 patents, Dr. Parthasarathy has published more than 250 original articles and has more than 30,000 citations. He has an extensive research portfolio including oxidative stress, a new model for heart failure and the role of diet and exercise in heart disease. Throughout his career, Dr. Parthasarathy has worked in a variety of clinical departments including Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pathology, Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery and Gynecology and Obstetrics.
That interdisciplinary experience has helped form his belief that all physicians should be scientists at heart and all scientists should be physicians at heart. “Science has no boundaries or limits, and clinicians and scientists can’t function in isolation,” he has said. “There is a place for everyone in science. Science doesn’t happen in compartments. It doesn’t work in isolation.”