David Chaplin, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the associate dean for Faculty Development, a new position in the School of Medicine aimed at increasing development opportunities for faculty.“The goal of the Office of Faculty Development is to help our faculty respond to the constantly changing national research and academic environments so they can be as successful as possible in their chosen careers,” said Chaplin, who also is director of the training academy for UAB’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science and is a former chair of the Department of Microbiology here.
“With his background as a researcher and a former chair of Microbiology, Dr. Chaplin is eminently qualified to help us meet the development needs of our biomedical research faculty. We are fortunate to have Dr. Chaplin as part of our faculty, and I’m personally grateful that he was willing to take on this challenge,” said David A. Rogers, M.D., MHPE, senior associate dean for Faculty Development.
The Office of Faculty Development has three major functions: career management, leadership development and equipping faculty with specific skills, Rogers said. While Chaplin will be heavily involved with faculty in the Joint Health Sciences to provide those services, his experience and his appointment in the CCTS provides the opportunity to help reach all School of Medicine faculty.
“My vision is to develop programs that will be useful for people at each stage of their careers,” said Chaplin. “There are things I wish I’d been exposed to as a young faculty member. There’s a lot of room in one’s career to learn new skills and tackle new challenges.”