Aruna V. Sarma, Ph.D., MHA, appointed assistant dean for research faculty

The Medical School Executive Committee on Dec. 2 approved the appointment of Research Professor of Urology Aruna V. Sarma, Ph.D., MHA, as assistant dean for research faculty in the Medical School, effective December 1, 2021.

In her new role, Sarma will lead Michigan Medicine efforts in developing and promoting research track faculty members. She will oversee appointments and promotions in the research track, the Advisory Committee on Primary Research Appointments, Promotions and Titles, and assist department chairs and administrators with faculty matters. She also will conduct third-year reviews and do exit interviews for research track faculty. 

She is chief and research professor in the Dow Division of Health Services Research in the Department of Urology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health (SPH). She is an epidemiologist and an independent principal investigator of several large funded urological studies. She has published extensively on the epidemiology of urological complications using epidemiologic and clinical datasets, population-based cohort studies and clinical trials, and has played a role in the development of the epidemiologic approach to urologic research in the Department of Urology and has established herself as a prominent researcher in urology nationally. She has worked closely with research track faculty.

Sarma currently is chair of the Epidemiology Committee for the International Consultation on Urologic Diseases and director of the University of Michigan UroEPI Career Development Program, a K12 career development program designed to train academic scholars in benign urology epidemiology. She has served on numerous local and national committees, is a member of the American Urologic Association, American Diabetes Association and Society of Epidemiologic Research, and is an inducted member of the American College of Epidemiology.

She earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Health Administration from Indiana University, and her doctorate from the University of Michigan SPH. She also has fellowship training from the Mayo Clinic and Michigan Medicine.