Carlson Named Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center

David S. Carlson, Ph.D., associate dean for research and advanced education at The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center’s Baylor College of Dentistry, has been appointed Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at the A&M System Health Science Center effective September 1, 2003.
Dr. Carlson, a Regents Professor, has served as chair of the dental school’s department of biomedical sciences and director of the Center For Craniofacial Research and Diagnosis, in addition to associate dean. He is also on the faculty of the health science center’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
In naming Dr. Carlson to the new position, A&M System Health Science Center President and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., stated: “We are fortunate to have someone of Dr. Carlson’s abilities and energies to assume this important leadership post. I have no doubt that Dr. Carlson will help our Health Science Center achieve great things across the entire spectrum of health sciences research, whether it involves his own field of dentistry, medicine or public health.”
Some of the duties of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies include serving as a member of the Health Science Center Executive Committee, articulating research and graduate education mission and goals to internal and external groups, and creating and implementing short and long-range strategic research planning. The position also involves administering available research funds to facilitate a successful research enterprise, including matching funds, infrastructure funds and bridge funding; developing the role of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; working closely with the Technology Licensing Office to optimize research technology transfer; and ensuring effective management of the Health Science Center’s grants and contracts functions.
Dr. Carlson brings to his new position a wealth of experience in research endeavors. He has served as a grant reviewer, at the state and national level, on a wide variety of National Institutes of Health (NIH) panels and other organizations’ analogous boards since the mid-1980s. He also has directed a number of doctoral programs at Baylor College of Dentistry, including those in oral health sciences and craniofacial biology, and has conducted numerous consultantships in various specialties in dentistry and molecular genetics.
Dr. Carlson has been the recipient of numerous professional awards and designations, including the Robert E. Gaylord Endowed Professorship in Orthodontics, A&M System Regents Professorship, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, the Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Dental Research (National Institutes of Health), and Omicron Kappa Upsilon.
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its five components located in communities throughout Texas are Baylor College of Dentistry, the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and the School of Rural Public Health.