Hengameh Raissy, PharmD, has been appointed interim Vice President for Research at The University of New Mexico Health Sciences.
Raissy is a research professor and Vice Chair for Research in the UNM Department of Pediatrics. She will assume her new role when Richard S. Larson, MD, PhD, retires in January.
“I want to thank Dr. Raissy for undertaking this new assignment and for continuing her unwavering support of the UNM Health and Health Sciences,” said Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and CEO of the UNM Health System.
Raissy brings many years of experience to the position. She joined the Department of Pediatrics in July 2001. Over the past 21 years, she has had an opportunity to contribute to advancing health science throughout New Mexico, as well as nationwide.
She has also been a principal investigator for more than 100 clinical trials that have contributed to new therapeutic interventions for asthma and cystic fibrosis, the Childhood Asthma Management Program, the Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network and AsthmaNet.
Dr. Raissy is currently co-PI for the IDeA State Pediatric Trial Network, part of the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, funded by National Institutes of Health Office of the Director. The ECHO Program’s goal is to understand the effects of a broad range of early environmental influences on child health and development.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led efforts to secure funding and participate in the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery study.
Dr. Raissy joined the Clinical & Translational Sciencs Center leadership in July 2010 when UNM Health Sciences sought its first NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award and she is currently the director of Network Capacity.
She was a contributor in the UNM 2040 Strategic Planning process, serving on the “Advance New Mexico” Task Force and as a member of the Research Sub-Group Committee, tasked with considering how to better align and harmonize research activities across all of UNM.
She is also the recipient of the UNM Health Sciences Research Excellence Award in Clinical Science (2020) and College of Pharmacy Research Excellence Award (2022).