The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has named Jay Gandy, PhD, as associate provost at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus effective Aug. 1.
As associate provost, Gandy will be responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership to all academic programs in Northwest Arkansas. Gandy is currently the interim dean of the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, where he has served since Dec. 31, 2018.
A longtime researcher, educator, and administrator, Gandy joined UAMS in 1985, first in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the College of Medicine, and for the past 18 years as a professor and chair of the Environmental and Occupational Health Department in the College of Public Health.
He has also served the UAMS Graduate School as director of the Occupational and Environmental Health Master of Science Program (1996-2012), and since 2010, as director of the Regulatory Sciences Program.
“Jay has proven himself a dedicated leader in the College of Public Health, and I am certain he will continue to excel and accomplish great things as associate provost for our Northwest Regional Campus,” said Stephanie Gardner, PharmD, EdD, UAMS provost and chief strategy officer.
Gandy completed undergraduate training in entomology at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1976. In 1982, he received a master’s degree studying neurotoxicology from the University of California, Davis, and in 1985 he earned a doctoral degree in toxicology from the University of California, Riverside. His research interests include pesticide toxicology and reproductive toxicology. He has served on numerous EPA expert panels and review panels, and is a past science advisory board member to the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research.
“I am a native Arkansan and have spent 34 years with UAMS and care deeply for UAMS and for the state of Arkansas,” Gandy said. “I am honored to be selected as associate provost at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus. This is the fastest-growing region in the state, and I am energized by the opportunities that UAMS has to grow right along with the population.”