Dr. Timothy Denning, associate director of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences (IBMS) at Georgia State University, has been named the university’s vice president for research and economic development.

He succeeds Dr. Michael Eriksen, who has was interim vice president for research and economic development since the departure of former vice president James Weyhenmeyer in 2019. Dr. Eriksen will return to the School of Public Health faculty.

Dr. Denning brings to his new position an in-depth knowledge of the research enterprise at Georgia State. He has chaired the university’s Institutional Biosafety Committee and been vice chair of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, and has worked closely with University Research Service and Administration.

He has been an important contributor to the development and growth of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, one of the university’s most productive research units. During his tenure, IBMS has doubled its sponsored research funding. As director of academic programs in IBMS, Dr. Denning has been the catalyst for expanded degree programs for students at all academic levels.

Dr. Denning, a professor in the Institute for Biomedical Science since 2018, came to Georgia State in 2013 as an associate professor. He was named associate director of the institute in 2015. Prior to joining the university, Dr. Denning was an assistant professor in the departments of Pediatrics, and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University.

Dr. Denning earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. He was a post-doctoral Fellow at the La Jolla (Calif.) Institute for Allergy and Immunology and the Emory Vaccine Center.