Mohamed Omar Elasri, PHD

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research,
UAMS

UAMS

Dr. Mohamed Omar Elasri has been an active researcher in the area of infectious diseases since his postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (1999), followed by a second postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (2000-2002). He has operated a highly active lab with consistent extramural funding and trained a large number of doctoral, masters and undergraduate research students (10 PhD, 3 MS, >60 undergrads). He also developed collaborative, interdisciplinary research with biologists, chemists/biochemists, computer scientists, and material scientists to develop anti-microbial surfaces, international databases, etc.

He gained substantial administrative experience as part of several leadership roles that he has assumed. He was elected president of the South Central Branch of the American Society for Microbiology and president of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences. One of latest achievements in
the program was the development of community engagement core which involved partnering with a non-profit organization to address health disparities in Mississippi.

Dr. Mohamed Elasri is a very committed to ensuring diversity and inclusion in the research enterprise. He believes that participation of minority students in STEM remains unacceptably low. Inclusion of more minority students will bring much needed diverse viewpoints into STEM fields and will enhance the diversity of the workforce in various areas that hire STEM graduates in the United States. He worked with all the HBCUs and other universities in Mississippi to award research funding and build new laboratories that train students in health-related fields.