Dear Colleagues-Friends,
It is my pleasure to announce that Pamela Knapp, Ph.D., will serve as interim chair of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology starting March 1 in support of Dr. John Povlishock’s impending retirement. Dr. Knapp is currently a tenured professor in the department with joint appointments in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies. Her laboratory principally studies the role of glia in driving CNS pathology in HIV and interactions between opiates and HIV infection that enhance CNS neuropathology.
Dr. Knapp received her Ph.D. in physiology from The Ohio State University. Her work as a postdoc and as a non-tenure track assistant professor at Wayne State University explored dysmyelination related to multiple sclerosis and proteolipid protein gene mutations. In 2005, she was recruited to the University of Kentucky, where she became a tenured professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology.
Dr. Knapp has maintained continuous NIH funding since 2002, and prior to that, was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She has been a regular member of two NIH study sections (Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors and NeuroAIDS and other End-organ Diseases / HIV Molecular Virology, Cell Biology, and Drug Development), was chair of a National Multiple Sclerosis Society study section and is deputy editor of Neuroscience Letters.
Since joining VCU in 2007, Dr. Knapp has served as chair of the School of Medicine’s Promotion and Tenure Committee (2011–2013) and has chaired numerous faculty and administrative searches. She is presently a subcommittee chair for the VCU Promotion and Tenure Task Force. She has a strong interest and history of involvement in faculty development and has been a tremendous mentor and advisor for numerous students, postdocs and faculty throughout her career.
We again thank Dr. Povlishock for his long-standing and remarkable service as chair of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology.
Please join me in offering a warm, grateful welcome to Dr. Knapp in her new interim role. Thank you also for your support of Dr. Knapp during this transition.
With all good wishes,
