March 29, 2018

Catherine Lysack named interim dean for Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Catherine Lysack, deputy director of the Institute of Gerontology (IOG) and professor in the Department of Health Care Sciences (Occupational Therapy), will serve as the interim dean for the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS), effective March 28. Lysack has agreed to serve as interim dean until summer 2020.

Lysack succeeds Dean Deepak Bhalla, who passed away recently. Bhalla was named dean of EACPHS in 2016.

“After recovering from the shock of the passing of Dean Bhalla, my thoughts went to his family and the faculty and staff, and how they must feel after having lost their leader,” said Wayne State Provost Keith Whitfield. “I then remembered the overwhelming support Dr. Lysack received when we were trying to find an interim dean in 2016. I approached Dr. Lysack and was quite pleased that she was willing to take on this significant role.”

Lysack, an occupational therapist, received her Ph.D. in community health sciences from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. She joined Wayne State’s faculty in 1997, and previously held the role of interim dean in EACPHS from 2014-15.

“I am pleased to take on this role and honored to follow in the steps of Dean Bhalla. The college is home to an outstanding group of faculty and staff who care deeply about student education," Lysack. "We proudly train the next generation of health care practitioners and researchers. It is a privilege to serve. I am delighted to return to the college and contribute to the important work ahead.”

Lysack teaches in the occupational therapy program and conducts research at the IOG. Her research focuses on the social factors that shape health and well-being, and the strategies people with disabilities and older adults use to regain a meaningful life in the community after illness and injury.

Her research, supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health; the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research; and the U.S. Department of Defense, has included research on falls and mobility loss, late-life depression, older adults’ downsizing household moves, cognitive predictors of physical decline, and urban neighborhood stressors.

“I think her talents and knowledge of the college will be a perfect fit for what is needed, and she will continue the momentum that Dean Bhalla started,” Whitfield said. “Lysack is an experienced researcher and scholar, as well as an experienced leader who will serve the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences well."

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