Newswise — The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University recently appointed Janet Robishaw, Ph.D., as chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Robishaw, an accomplished functional and translational genomics researcher with 30 years of sustained federal funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), comes to FAU from Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania. Most recently, she served as senior scientist and associate director at Geisinger’s Weis Center for Research.
“Dr. Robishaw was selected from a highly competitive and extremely qualified pool of candidates. Her impressive background and accomplishments make her a natural fit for this position, and she will be instrumental in taking our biomedical research efforts in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine to the next level,” said Arthur J. Ross, III, M.D., M.B.A., interim dean and a professor in FAU’s College of Medicine. “We thank Dr. Keith Brew for his service and numerous contributions as chair of our Department of Biomedical Sciences for more than a decade.”
Robishaw, who trained under Nobel Laureate Alfred G. Gilman, Ph.D., will be the first female chair of FAU’s Department of Biomedical Sciences. She succeeds Brew, who will remain in the department to continue his NIH-funded research to develop treatments for osteoarthritis.
As chair, Robishaw will lead the academic, administrative, and research programs for the department. She will work in collaboration with faculty within FAU’s College of Medicine and the university to boost federal, state, and private funding for biomedical and clinical research projects. In addition, she will work in concert with two of FAU’s newly-established research institutions – FAU’s Healthy Aging Institute and FAU’s Brain Institute – spearheaded by faculty members in FAU’s College of Medicine.
Research emphasis in FAU’s Department of Biomedical Sciences includes cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases, genetic eye diseases, age related eye diseases (macular degeneration and cataracts), neurological diseases and disorders, behavioral neurobiology, cancer, and infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS and malaria).
“I am very excited to join the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at a pivotal time in its growth and success,” said Robishaw. “I look forward to working in collaboration with an outstanding team of scientists within the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and the university, as well as with our research partners throughout the region.”
The emphasis of Robishaw’s research is to help prioritize and identify the functional consequences of genetic variants associated with diseases and their successful application to the clinical setting, which is required for “personalized” medicine to become a reality for most patients. As such, the aim of her research is to develop better pharmacologic treatments for complex diseases with a focus on the “druggable” part of the genome; the G-protein coupled with receptor signaling pathways that represent the targets for more than 60 percent of drugs currently on the market.
"Dr. Robishaw's research has tremendous potential to globally improve and impact the health and well-being of patients who are afflicted with a wide variety of medical conditions," said John W. Newcomer, M.D., vice dean for research and innovation and a professor in FAU’s College of Medicine who chaired the search committee. "We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Robishaw to Florida Atlantic University and to bring her cutting-edge research to the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine.”
In addition to NIH support, Robishaw has received research grants from the American Heart Association, educational program support from Pfizer and other endowments, and business grant support from the Life Sciences Greenhouse and Keystone Innovation Zone. To date, she has been awarded about $15 million in grant funding.
Robishaw holds a doctoral degree in cellular and molecular physiology from The Pennsylvania State University and conducted her postdoctoral training at the University of Texas Health Science Center of Dallas. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and biology from Central Michigan University.
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About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine: FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of 141 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 70 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 64 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAU’s commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. In June 2014, FAU’s College of Medicine welcomed its inaugural class of 36 residents in its first University-sponsored residency in internal medicine.
About Florida Atlantic University:Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
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