Pamela Padilla

Division Information

The Division of Research and Innovation promotes research, scholarship and creative activities that engage faculty, research scientists, students and external collaborative partners. The division supports faculty in the following areas:

• Grants and Contracts Administration
• Research Integrity and Compliance
• Innovation and Commercialization
• Research Computing Services
• Research Development
• Research Core Facilities
• Research Institutes and Centers

Bio Information

Dr. Pamela Padilla was appointed vice president for research and innovation in June 2022. She joined UNT in 2002 and is a professor of biological sciences. Dr. Padilla previously served as dean of the College of Science, associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Science and associate vice president for research and innovation. Under Dr. Padilla’s leadership, UNT’s research expenditures have risen to $106M in Fiscal Year 2023 while faculty researchers garnered a record high total of sponsored project awards with more than $86 million in funding from top national agencies.

Dr. Padilla’s research, which has been continually supported by either the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, focuses on how environmental and dietary stress affects living organisms at the cellular, genetic, and molecular levels to model human health issues such as ischemia and diabetes. Her lead in research training grants provides additional support for Ph.D. student training and demonstrates her commitment to students. She has earned numerous fellowships and grants, including an NSF CAREER award. In 2010, she earned the UNT Early Career Award for Research and Creativity and was a Faculty Leadership Fellow from 2015 to 2016. She was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and SACNAS Advanced Leadership Institute Fellow in 2017, received a Science magazine Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction in 2012, and was a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow in 2008.

Dr. Padilla volunteers and is dedicated to STEM organizations and was previous president, treasurer, and board member for Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), the largest STEM diversity nonprofit in the nation. She serves on boards and panels led by National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Nature Springer, and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs and represents UNT in the HSRU, an alliance of R1 HSI universities.

Education:

• NSF Post-Doctoral Fellow, Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center
• Ph.D. in biology, University of New Mexico
• B.S. in biology, University of New Mexico