Alan Harrison, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen’s University, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Adams as the inaugural Head of the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences for an initial term from October 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017. Dr. Adams has been in the role of Interim Head of the Department since November 1, 2010.

After completing his undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Western Ontario in 1985, Dr. Adams spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Baker Medical Research Institute in Melbourne Australia. He joined Queen’s University in 1988 as an Assistant Professor, initially with a joint appointment between the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and the Department of Anesthesiology. Dr. Adams was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in in 1994 and to Professor in 1998.  He was appointed as the Acting Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology during the 2009/2010 academic year and as Interim Head of the newly integrated Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences in November 2010.

Dr. Adams is widely known and respected as a productive researcher and leading expert on the causes and consequences of cardiovascular and kidney disease, sexual dysfunction, and the development of new therapeutic strategies in prevention and treatment. His reputation as an educator is equally recognized. He has been instrumental in establishing and delivering multi-disciplinary cardiovascular science courses in numerous undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and he is a leading innovator in the use of online technologies for course delivery.

Dr. Adams’ work as a scholar and teacher has been recognized with numerous awards, including a PMAC/HRF-Medical Research Council of Canada Career Award in Medicine, the Mihran and Mary Basmajian Award for Excellence in Medical Research, and two Faculty of Health Sciences Education Awards.

In making this announcement, Dr. Harrison would like to thank Dr. Adams for his leadership during the transition of the basic sciences departments in the School of Medicine to the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences.