Charles Easley has been named as the new Associate Dean of Research for the University of Georgia College of Public Health.
Easley joined the College of Public Health in 2015 and now serves as an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Science.
During his tenure at UGA, Easley has obtained more than $6 million in extramural funding and was one of the youngest members of the Provost’s $2 million Club, which recognizes faculty members who have active funding totaling $2 million or more, and over 90% of his extramural funding comes from the National Institutes of Health.
In addition, many of Easley grants are interdisciplinary and involve multiple investigators across institutions, exemplifying the College of Public Health’s value on collaboration.
“Dr. Easley is a tremendous proponent of team science, and his plan is to strengthen and foster research relationships among the departments within the College and across the University to enable the most innovative and cross-cutting research programs,” said Marsha Davis, public health dean.
Building upon the foundation set by his predecessor, Easley plans to cultivate and grow the College’s research portfolio and expand federal funding, particularly from the National Institutes of Health.
“As a college we have some incredible researchers, and we have the chance to lead the charge at the University with NIH funding either here in the college itself or in collaboration with other colleges here at the University,” said Easley.
In the next 3 years, Easley hopes to see the College bring in more federally-funded research grants, have a program or project center grant housed in CPH, and have a pre- and post-doctoral training grant.
To get there, Easley takes his role as a facilitator and mentor very seriously, especially for early career faculty who may need support landing their first major grant.
“Some of the criticism is very tough, and you can take it personally. That’s where my office comes into play to keep an optimistic view on a review and to push the project forward in a way to get it funded,” he said.
Easley says he is excited to get to know individual faculty and their research projects better to help bridge connections within CPH, UGA and in other institutions.
“Organizing teams and getting people working together that may not have worked together before or helping to facilitate collaborations to promote people’s research and help portfolios to get bigger – that’s important. I think that one of my bigger strengths is the ability to bring people together towards a goal, and then in empowering those people to do what they do best.”
Easley received both his M.S. in Biology and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University, and he completed his postdoctoral training in reproductive, developmental, and stem cell biology at the University of Pittsburgh.
– Lauren Baggett
Posted on April 7, 2023.
