Tika Benveniste
Dr. Etty (Tika) Benveniste is currently Senior Vice Dean, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Heersink School of Medicine; Associate Vice President for Medicine and Basic Sciences; Co-Director, UAB Multiple Sclerosis Center; Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Professor, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology. She was the Founding Chair of the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology (2012-2015), and served as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology (2000-2011). In addition, Dr. Benveniste was the Inaugural Associate Dean for the UAB Office of Postdoctoral Education from 1999-2001. Dr. Benveniste was elected in 2009 as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She serves as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee, National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
As Senior Vice Dean, Dr. Benveniste oversees faculty recruitment/retention, internal funding mechanisms, space allocations/metrics/renovations, Core Facilities, compliance issues, and strategic research planning.
Dr. Benveniste’s lab focuses on neuroimmunology, studying the interaction of innate and adaptive immune cells with glia, specifically signaling mediated by the JAK/STAT and Protein Kinase 2 (CK2) pathways in terms of neuroinflammatory responses. Pre-clinical models of autoimmune/neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease are utilized, as well as peripheral blood samples from patients. Her laboratory has over 260 publications in highly ranked journals, and the research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Dr. Benveniste has mentored over 300 high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, medical fellows, and junior faculty. Thirty-six students have obtained their Ph.D. degree from her lab, 40 postdoctoral /medical fellows have been mentored by her, and she is currently mentoring 14 junior faculty. She was honored with the UAB Graduate School Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship, 2014.