MSU will add about eight new faculty members across multiple departments in the coming years as the result of a new reproductive and developmental sciences initiative, university officials said yesterday.
The research initiative is a component of a partnership between the Department of Animal Science and the College of Human Medicine and will address problems related to women’s health and fertility by studying similar reproductive problems in animals.
As the College of Human Medicine expands its facilities northwest to Grand Rapids, a team of officials with both departments will target faculty members from distinguished programs across the country and world in an effort to bring in talented researchers to further their work.
“These new faculty hires are targeted to areas that really will address some of the most pressing problems related to women’s health,” said George Smith, a professor in the Department of Animal Science and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Smith worked with Asgi Fazleabas, an MSU professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology, to spearhead the initiative’s progress.
The process of searching for and recruiting faculty members will last about two or three years, Smith said.
Smith said his department remains in the early stages of recruiting potential additions.
Details of the initiative were presented to the Board of Trustees at its June 17 meeting.
“We think the future (for this program) is wonderful,” Fazleabas said during the meeting.
The university stands to benefit from the initiative, Smith said.
“Our goal is to really put MSU on the map as one of the pre-eminent programs in this whole field,” Smith said.
As the school works to recruit new faculty, department researchers will study cows and other animals in an attempt to pinpoint various causes of infertility. Researchers then will study the effects of similar characteristics in humans.
“Farm animals are one of many models that will be used,” Smith said. “The cow in many ways is a good model for human infertility research.”
As a result of the partnership, faculty across several different departments will have the opportunity to work alongside each other, said J. Ian Gray, MSU’s vice president for research and graduate studies.
“It takes advantage of the high-quality faculty we both have,” Gray said. “It links the recent hires in Grand Rapids to the emerging strength in the Department of Animal Science.”
The research initiative also expands the university’s overall research mission by encouraging outreach, Gray said.
“The modern way of approaching things is to have clusters of faculty approach things,” he said.
“The whole idea is to bring faculty together … to support each other.”
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