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Leslie Parise, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, has been named Dean of the University of Vermont’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Parise will begin her new position on May 15.


Leslie Parise, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, has been named Dean of the University of Vermont’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Parise will begin her new position on May 15.

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Leslie Parise, PhD

Parise first joined the UNC School of Medicine faculty in 1988 and has served as Chair of the UNC Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics since 2006. She also holds a joint appointment in the UNC Department of Pharmacology. Biochemistry and biophysics is currently fifth nationally for NIH-funded research.

In their announcement, the University of Vermont praised Parise’s extensive record of research successes and cross-campus leadership.

“Widely recognized for cardiovascular and cancer research, Parise’s work has been continuously funded, including more than $14.5M from the NIH.

Parise helped faculty maintain and grow funding through partnerships across campus and with neighboring institutions to facilitate greater investment from foundations and government agencies such the Keck Foundation, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBC) and the NIH. She also facilitated partnerships with neighboring institutions to stimulate investment in a highly transformative technology for solving molecular structures called cryo-electron microscopy.

In 2017, Parise was elected Chair of the Faculty at UNC, a role she held until May 2019. In this capacity, she represented all 3,800 faculty of the UNC campus, interacting closely with the chancellor, provost, deans and faculty from within the university, as well as UNC’s Board of Trustees, system president, and a faculty assembly from across the state’s 17-campus system,” the University of Vermont wrote in its announcement of Parise’s hiring.

“I have absolutely loved serving as Chair of Biochemistry and Biophysics. It has been the opportunity of a lifetime and certainly the most fun job I’ve ever had,” Parise said in an email to the department faculty.

It is expected that the UNC School of Medicine will name an interim chair to be followed by a formal search.