Mary-Ann Bjornsti, professor and former chair of the department of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is the new president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the largest coalition of biological and biomedical research associations in the United States.
FASEB, located near the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the most powerful forces for science in America. It is composed of 26 societies with more than 110,000 researchers worldwide. FASEB promotes research through collaborative advocacy as the voice for the basic biomedical research community. Each year, FASEB assesses the needs of that community and makes budget recommendations to Congress in support of the federal agencies that are tasked with securing America’s health and well-being.
“I am honored to take on this expanded role in FASEB,” Professor Bjornsti said. “I look forward to working with a dedicated team of leaders and staff to leverage their talents, expertise, and energy to carry out our mission to advance health and well-being by promoting research and education in the biological and biomedical sciences.”
Dr. Bjornsti, the Newman H. Waters Chair of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has served as associate director for the university’s Translational Research at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. Before joining the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2009, she taught at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Her research interests are in the mechanisms of anti-cancer drug action and the pathways that regulate tumor growth and cellular responses to replicative stress.
Professor Bjornsti holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Minnesota.