WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Diya TV) — Purdue University has named Preeti Sivasankar interim dean of its College of Pharmacy, effective Oct. 1, the university announced Monday.
Sivasankar currently serves as Purdue’s vice president for research innovation and leads the Strategic Interdisciplinary Research division in the Office of Research. She will succeed Eric Barker, who will become senior vice president for health affairs.
As interim dean, Sivasankar will oversee the College of Pharmacy’s teaching, research and engagement programs while Purdue conducts a national search for a permanent dean. The university said the search will begin in the coming weeks.
Sivasankar will continue overseeing the Lilly-Purdue 360 Initiative, a partnership between Purdue and Eli Lilly and Company valued at up to $250 million. The collaboration focuses on drug discovery, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, data science and next-generation therapeutics.
Her research focuses on voice disorders, laryngeal physiology and upper airway conditions. Purdue says her work has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Sivasankar previously served as head of Purdue’s Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and as assistant vice president for strategic health research. She also holds a courtesy appointment in Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and an adjunct appointment at Indiana University School of Medicine.
She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Bombay and a doctorate in communication sciences and disorders from Northwestern University.
Sivasankar is a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, an associate fellow of the American Laryngological Association and a distinguished fellow of the National Academies of Practice.
