Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., University of Vermont professor of medicine and director of the Vaccine Testing Center, has been appointed to serve as interim associate dean for clinical research, effective October 1, 2014. She will succeed Richard Galbraith, M.D., Ph.D., who served as associate dean for patient-oriented research, and was appointed UVM Vice President for Research earlier this year.
Kirkpatrick will report to the senior associate dean for research, and have responsibility for exploring new and expanded opportunities for clinical research projects and programs, developing internal and external collaborative relationships, facilitating career development for faculty pursing such research, and overseeing clinical research administration. Kimberly Luebbers, M.S.H.S., R.N., B.S.N., O.C.N., assistant dean for clinical research administration, will report to Kirkpatrick.
An internationally recognized scholar in the field of infectious diseases, Kirkpatrick specializes in translational immunology and vaccine development. She has served on a number of national committees, including the Infectious Disease Society of America and the American Society of Tropical Medicine, which awarded her the 2012 Bailey K. Ashford Medal for distinguished work in tropical medicine. She has also served as a reviewer for numerous journals in her field and is a section editor of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
As founder of the Vaccine Testing Center (VTC) in 2001, Kirkpatrick directs a fully-functioning unit for performing domestic Phase I, II and III vaccine trials and enteric challenge models; international field trials in infectious disease; and exploratory work in human immunology. The VTC has made significant contributions to the evaluation and development of many vaccines against infectious diseases of global importance, including typhoid fever, dengue fever, campylobacteriosis, West Nile virus, cholera, rotavirus and polio. Currently, the VTC’s work includes multiple phase I and II trials as part of a 10-year award from the National Institutes of Health to develop a live attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine. In addition, Kirkpatrick and colleagues from the University of Virginia are currently supported by a 2011 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant to understand the biologic and immunologic reasons for failure of oral polio and rotavirus vaccines in infants in Bangladesh and India.
After earning her medical degree from Albany Medical College, Kirkpatrick completed an internal medicine residency and chief residency at the University of Rochester and an infectious disease fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined UVM/Fletcher Allen as assistant professor in late 1999, was promoted to associate professor in 2005, and earned tenure in 2012. In 2013, she was promoted to professor and also selected as a fellow in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program.