EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation

Nancy received her Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University in 1975. She trained as a post doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago in the Department of Medicine and Biochemistry until 1977 when the University of Minnesota appointed her to the faculty in the Department of Biochemistry. She subsequently moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School where she was promoted to Associate Professor in 1982. The University of Louisville recruited her in 1987 to hold the rank of professor and the Preston Pope Joyes Endowed Chair in Biochemical Research. In 1994 the University of Umea awarded her an honorary M.D. 

Throughout her career, she has applied state of the art molecular biological techniques to make distinguished contributions in the areas of mitochondrial biogenesis, RNA enzymology and protein targeting. The National Science Foundation, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and the National Institutes for Health (NIH) have funded her research. The NIH provided continuous, competitive funding for twenty years. She has served nationally on the Publications Committee of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), including a term as chair, on the National Council of the ASBMB, and as a founding member of the Innovative Technology Council of the Protein Society. She has been a study section member for the Physiological Chemistry, Molecular Cytology, Genetic Basis of Disease, and Cell Biology II NIH study sections, Metabolic Regulation and Women in Science NSF review panels and the Genetics Visiting Committee. She has served as editor or executive editor for Biochemie, The Journal of Biological Chemistry and Nucleic Acids Research. She has published and lectured extensively and organized many national and international conferences.  She has been elected a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She served as Senior Vice President for Research at the University of Louisville from 1996 to 2006 and oversaw a tremendous expansion of research infrastructure and a more than four fold expansion of extramural funding.  She implemented a number of new policies and procedures supportive of research and technology transfer, including creation of a Technology Transfer Office.  In addition to her current faculty responsibilities, she serves on the ORAU board, the board of the Northern Kentucky University Research Foundation, Pradama (a biotech startup), the leadership team of the Kentucky Girls Collaborative in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), on the Kentucky state-wide STEM taskforce and chairs the Kentucky Statewide EPSCoR Committee.