Phyllis Wise

Phyllis M. Wise is a biomedical researcher. Most recently, she served as the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.^[1]

Education

Wise received a bachelor's degree in biology from Swarthmore College in 1967, an M.A. (1969) and then a doctorate (1972) in zoology from the University of Michigan.^[2] She was a postdoctoral fellow there from 1972–74.^[3] She was awarded honorary degrees from Swarthmore College (2008) ^[4] and the University of Birmingham (2015) ^[5]

Career

University professor

In 1976, she was appointed Assistant Professor of physiology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. In 1993, she was appointed professor of physiology and chair of the department at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. In 2002, she became Dean of the College of Biological Sciences at University of California-Davis, holding also the rank of Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior in its College of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Physiology and Membrane Biology in its School of Medicine.

Research focus

Her principal area of research has been the effect of hormones on the female brain during development, adulthood, and aging. Her research uncovered the diverse actions of estrogens on the brain, including its protective effects after stroke injury. She was funded by the NIH for 32 consecutive years during which she received two 10-year MERIT awards, and led center and program project grants. In 2014, she admitted to omitting citations of her publications in one of her review articles.

University of Washington

Starting in 2005, Wise served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Washington.^[6] Later, held the position of interim President there in 2010-2011. During her service at the University of Washington, she led the establishment of the College of the Environment. ^[7]

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

In 2011, Wise was appointed Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^[8] She led the establishment of a unique engineering-driven college of medicine that will train the next generation of doctors who will use technology and big data to develop new materials, new devices, new imaging, and new robotics to provide better medical care to more people at lower cost. ^[9] She also created partnerships between the university and community leaders to encourage economic development, leading to greater vibrancy of the Urbana-Champaign region and the university.^[10] Wise enhanced the University of Illinois's presence in multiple countries around the world to encourage global educational, research, and corporate collaborations. In August 2015, Wise resigned the Chancellorshop at Urbana-Champaign, and shortly after University administrators released emails Wise had hidden from FOIA requests regarding the controversial firings of Steven Salaita.^[11]

Memberships and Honors

She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physiological Society. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Nike.^[12] and the First Busey Corporation,^[13] the RAND Health ^[14] and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.^[15]

References

External links

• University press release
• Academic CV