Pamela VandeVord

Responsibilities

Dr. VandeVord is the N. Waldo Harrison Professor and the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Engineering, where she provides leadership and development of the college’s comprehensive research efforts.

Education

She holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Wayne State University.

Background

Dr. VandeVord is faculty within the Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics Department and is a Research Health Scientist at the Salem VAMC. Her research thrust focuses on complex mechanisms of nervous system injury, with efforts to understand the persistent neurobehavioral and neuropathological consequences of a traumatic event. For the past 18 years, she has been studying the fundamental questions concerning the mode of blast energy transfer to the brain during traumatic injuries as well as the consequent damage or disruptive mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels. Her group uses multiscale preclinical models to discover the molecular changes that occur within cells and their environment which lead to dysfunction. She was awarded the 2009 PECASE for her pioneering work in this area. She has received a personal share of over $10.6M in funding from sponsors including the NIH, DOD, VA, and NSF. She has published 86 peer-reviewed manuscripts and three book chapters and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Society.