Dr. Carmen C. Canavier will serve as Department Head for Cell Biology and Anatomy

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Carmen Canavier has agreed to serve as the next Department Head for Cell Biology and Anatomy. She follows Dr. Samuel McClugage who stepped down as Department Head in August.

Dr. Canavier received her PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rice, and completed several post doc and research fellowships in neuroscience. She took her first faculty position in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at UT Houston School of Medicine. She joined the faculty of the University of New Orleans in the Department of Psychology, before joining the faculty at LSUHSC School of Medicine in the Neuroscience Center in 2005. She became a professor in 2009, and she became the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy in 2011. She has been a highly successful researcher in neuroscience for her entire academic career. Well-funded by the NIH and NSF for many years, she has over 65 peer-reviewed publications, 19 book chapters, and over 100 published abstracts. She serves on many NIH study sections, on several editorial boards and she has spoken widely at scientific meetings both nationally and internationally.

In addition to her scientific success, Dr. Canavier has worked hard to advance faculty causes. She has served as on the Faculty Assembly, the Faculty Senate and numerous School of Medicine and Health Sciences Center committees. Of note, she chaired the LSUHSC Committee on Gender Equity in the Workplace and the School of Medicine Committee on Women’s Affairs. In these roles, she worked for revisions to policies regarding delay of the tenure clock, use of sick leave to care for family members, and she has been a strong advocate to create an emergency leave pool. Dr. Canavier completed the ELAM executive leadership program in 2012, and the Faculty Assembly recognized her for outstanding service to the institution in 2019. Congratulations to Dr. Canavier. We are excited about the future of the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy.