Indian American professor Shelby Kutty has been named as Assistant Dean of Research and Development at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). Dr. Kutty is the professor of pediatrics and internal medicine and vice chair of pediatrics.
Kutty’s appointment was announced by Dr. Bradley Britigan, dean of the College of Medicine and Howard Fox, senior associate dean of research and development for the College of Medicine.
“This is all about growing our clinical research enterprise,” Fox said in a statement. “Dr. Kutty is an outstanding investigator and is very committed to building our research program. He will primarily be responsible for helping foster research in those clinical departments and divisions with emerging research programs, and those programs moving into new scholarly directions.”
Kutty, along with Fox, will work on developing strategies for accomplishing the goal.
The professors hope to leverage new funds in the research budget set aside for pilot funds to support innovative projects; utilizing research design and statistical support from the College of Public Health to further build rigor and reproducibility in research; holding a research retreat at the Truhlsen Events Center to help build research contacts and collaborations in the College of Medicine; and developing research and mentoring opportunities for medical students, residents and fellows.
Fundamental to this growth will be to work closely with the clinical research department and also to strengthen the collaborations between departments for interdisciplinary and translational work.
UNMC was recently awarded a large NIH grant for the Great Plains IDeA-Clinical Translational Research Network.
“We are confident that we can make an impact on our research and academic enterprise,” Kutty said. “We just need to make a commitment to get the job done. I want to encourage all our researchers to get behind this initiative and turn out for the treat. It will be well worth their time.”
With his new appointment, Kutty will accelerate the growth of clinical and transitional research on the campus. He will help and provide clinical scientists with the resources and links to campus expertise to build sustainable research teams.
When asked about this initiative, Britigan said, “We have great talent here and continue to recruit outstanding new faculty, having Dr.Kutty work with Dr. Fox and the Research and Development Committee will enable us to support the academic mission of the college.”
Kutty received his MBBS degree from Calicut University School of Medicine in India and received his medical degree from Manipal University in India. He completed his master’s degree in healthcare management from Harvard University.