Department Chairs/Division Heads - Basic Science
Arthur L. Beaudet, M.D.
Chair, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics
Arthur L. Beaudet, M.D., is a professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. He is also a professor in the departments of pediatrics and molecular and cellular biology. He received his bachelor's degree at the College of the Holy Cross in 1963 and his medical degree at Yale University School of Medicine in 1967.
A pioneer in the study of molecular genetics, Beaudet is involved in the study of the molecular abnormalities causing Prader Willi syndrome (PWS) and Angelman syndrome (AS).
Beaudet was voted to membership in the Institute of Medicine in 1995. He is also a member of the Association of American Physicians and a past president of the American Society of Human Genetics. He is currently serving in the FDA's Genetics Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Janet S. Butel, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Virology
Janet S. Butel is a summa cum laude graduate of Kansas State University and received a Ph.D. with honors in virology from Baylor. She was appointed head of the Division of Molecular Virology at Baylor in 1989 and chair of the Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology in 1999. She is the first woman to be appointed to one of the College's endowed professorships, the first woman to chair an academic unit at Baylor, as well as the first woman to be designated a Distinguished Service Professor by Baylor.
In 1994, Butel became director of the NIH-funded Baylor Center for AIDS Research. She has co-authored more than 200 scientific journal articles and book chapters and has participated in numerous national and international scientific meetings.
The recipient of numerous awards, she currently serves as a member of the Council for Extramural Grants of the American Cancer Society and on the council of Women in Cancer Research. Butel serves on several administrative committees at Baylor. She is currently director of the Viral Oncology training program, funded by NIH.
Richard G. Cook, Ph.D.
Interim Chair, Department of Immunology
Richard Glen Cook, Ph.D., interim chair of the Department of Immunology, received his bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University and his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Before assuming the interim chairmanship, he served as head of the immunology section of Baylor's department of microbiology and immunology. He has been a professor in that department since 1992. He is currently director of the Advanced Technology Laboratories and the Protein Chemistry Core Laboratory.
Prior to coming to Baylor, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the department of microbiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas. He is a member of American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association of Immunologists, American Chemical Society, American Society for Microbiology, Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities, and the Protein Society.
Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Neuroscience
Dr. Michael J. Friedlander accepted the role as chair of Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Neuroscience and director of the college's Neuroscience Initiatives in July 2005.
Dr. Friedlander was founding chair of neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, director of the Civitan International Research Center, the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, the UAB Mental Retardation Research Center and a host of other centers at the school.
Dr. Friedlander completed his undergraduate degree in biology at Florida State University in Tallahassee and received his doctorate from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. He completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Susan L. Hamilton, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Susan Lois Hamilton is the chair of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. She received her Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver and did her postdoctoral work in the Department of Neurology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City.
Dr. Hamilton is currently the editor-in-chief of Physiological Reviews and is a member of both the MDA Scientific Advisory Committee and the SMEP NIH study section. Her area of research is skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling and human diseases associated with alterations in this process. Her research is funded by four NIH R01 grants, a project of NIH program project grant with investigators from Harvard, and a grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association. She is also the program director for a NIH training grant in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Dr. Hamilton chairs the ECPRAC committee for Endowed Chairs and serves on the Faculty Promotions and Tenure Committee and on the Best Minds Faculty Cabinet. Dr. Hamilton helped to found the new Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program and the new Mouse Phenotyping Core.
Bert W. O'Malley, M.D.
Chair, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Bert W. O'Malley, M.D., is chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. O'Malley received his bachelor's from the University of Pittsburgh and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He did his internship and residency at Duke University Medical School in Chapel Hill, N.C.
In 1965, he became a clinical associate at the National Cancer Institute and in 1967, was named to the molecular biology section of the Endocrine Branch of the NCI. From 1969-1973, he was professor and Occupant of Lucius Birch Chair and director of the Reproductive Biology Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. He came to Houston in 1973 as the Tom Thompson Professor and chair of the Department of Cell Biology (now the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology) and director of the Baylor Center for Reproductive Biology.
O'Malley holds numerous honorary degrees and is the recipient of many awards. He is the author of more than 600 items and is the holder of 19 patents for special techniques and inventions developed in the study of his field.
Adam Kuspa, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Dr. Adam Kuspa was named chair of the Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry in March 2006.
A professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Kuspa joined the BCM faculty in 1993 as an assistant professor of biochemistry. He has been involved in several research programs, including cell and molecular biology, development biology and molecular and human genetics, as well as the Human Genome Sequencing Center at BCM.
He received his doctorate in biochemistry from Stanford University. He served a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Diego.
In 2005, Kuspa received a Michael E. DeBakey, M.D. Excellence in Research Award and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.