By Nathan Tidwell
LITTLE ROCK — Sean Taverna, Ph.D., is the new dean of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Graduate School.
He succeeds Robert E. McGehee, Jr., Ph.D., who retired after serving as dean since 2004.
A cancer researcher and molecular scientist with a successful track record as a graduate student mentor, leader and recruiter, Taverna joins UAMS from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he was an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences with joint appointments in the departments of Oncology and Medicine. He also served as the director of graduate recruiting in the Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences program and as associate director for the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences Epigenetics Center.