March 21, 2018

Arrangements announced for Dean Bhalla

We now have information to share regarding the arrangements for Dean Deepak Bhalla following his unexpected death last week.

Memorial Services will be held on Monday March 26, 2018 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Verheyden Funeral Home, 16300 Mack Avenue, Grosse Pointe.

Please visit the Verheyden Funderal Home's website for additional information including directions, and to share your thoughts and prayers with his wife and family.

Dean Bhalla joined the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 1995, and was named dean in 2016. He held degrees in biology and cell biology from Punjab University. He earned a Ph.D. in cell biology from Howard University, and did his MA post-doc work at Harvard. Before joining Wayne State, he served on the faculty at the University of California in Irvine. His research focused on pulmonary toxicology of air pollutants and the development of chronic lung disease. His researched has been widely published, and he was recognized worldwide for his symposia lectures. His professional accomplishments stand in silent testimony to his brilliance and rigor as an academician.

“Any loss of a colleague diminishes us all, and Dean Bhalla’s death has left a void in our lives and in the campus community,” said Provost Keith Whitfield. “His leadership in the short time he served as the dean of the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences helped to strengthen and advance the college’s mission and vision, and I’m confident moving forward that we can build on the positive momentum Dean Bhalla established.”

He was also a loyal friend and a devoted family man. He cared deeply about his family and friends, and about the world around him.

Professor Peter Frade knew Dean Bhalla well as both a friend and a colleague.

"Dean Bhalla was a longtime colleague but more importantly a dear friend and role model that helped shaped the lives of all of the faculty, staff and administration here in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.  I first met Deepak in 1996 when I arrived as a new faculty member and was taken by his kind, warm and engaging personality, which went far to provide a comfort level of inclusion to a new faculty member coming into academia.  Years later with the reorganization of the College, it was my privilege to be the department chair of Fundamental and Applied Sciences where Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences was a program within the departmental program group.  My office was only two doors down from Deepak’s and this allowed me the opportunity to appreciate the enormity of his extensive knowledge and extreme kindness that he showed to everyone regardless of their position in the College. He was an outstanding scholar, researcher, teacher, and mentor even to those who were in administrative roles. As years passed, he became more than just a colleague but rather more like a family member whose door was always open and available to help anyone who entered.  I deeply and sincerely miss my dear friend and colleague whose presence in the College and at the University has impacted the lives of so many and me personally.  Dean Deepak Bhalla will be remembered always as his presence among us will be sorely missed."

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