LSU Vet Med Announces New Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education
June 23, 2022
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine is pleased to announce that Tammy Dugas, PhD, has been named the new associate dean for research and graduate education. Joseph Francis, BVSc, MVSc, Ph.D., Everett D. Besch Professor in Veterinary Medicine, is stepping down as associate dean of research and graduate education to lead a bold new initiative to develop our strength in cancer research at LSU Vet Med, building on the success of our Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in cancer mechanisms and models, for which he is the Principal Investigator. Shisheng Li, PhD, professor, has been named interim department head for Comparative Biomedical Sciences (CBS). LSU will begin a global search for a permanent department head.
“I am thrilled that Dr. Tammy Dugas will be joining our senior leadership team as associate dean for research and graduate education. She is an exemplary leader and stellar scientist, and someone who garners great respect from graduate students, staff, and faculty alike. She will be an outstanding advocate for our growing veterinary and biomedical research enterprise. I very much look forward to working with her in this new role to take LSU Vet Med to new heights of excellence in our discovery mission,” Dean Oliver Garden said.
Dr. Dugas has served as head of the CBS department since March 1, 2020. She joined the faculty of LSU Vet Med on September 1, 2014, as a professor in CBS. She received her BS in biochemistry and her PhD in chemistry from LSU in 1992 and 1996, respectively. Dr. Dugas completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1998 and another post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, in 2001. Her first faculty position was at the LSU Health Science Center Shreveport. Dr. Dugas is active in the Society of Toxicology and served as president of the Cardiovascular Toxicology Specialty Section from 2016-2017.
Dr. Dugas’ research focus is on cardiovascular pharmacology and toxicology. Her toxicology research seeks to understand how environmental exposures initiate the progression of cardiovascular diseases, and, in her pharmacology research, she is developing new drug-coated medical devices utilized to clear blocked arteries.
Since arriving at LSU, Dr. Dugas has received grants from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute totaling more than $480,000 to develop a drug-coated balloon and a drug-eluting stent for the treatment of peripheral artery disease in humans. In her toxicology research, she was awarded two grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, one as part of the LSU Superfund Research Program, totaling $1,884,586 to elucidate the role of air pollution in promoting cardiovascular disease. She is also co-Principal Investigator on the $11.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program that established the Center for Lung Biology and Disease.
About LSU Vet Med: Bettering lives through education, public service, and discovery
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine is one of only 33 veterinary schools in the U.S. and the only one in Louisiana. LSU Vet Med is dedicated to improving and protecting the lives of animals and people through superior education, transformational research, and compassionate care. We teach. We heal. We discover. We protect.