Archives
Smyth, Trevisan named deans
Appointments effective immediately
By ARTHUR PAGE
Assistant Vice President
The appointments of Nancy J. Smyth as dean of the UB School of Social Work and Maurizio Trevisan as dean of the university's School of Public Health and Health Professions were announced today by President John B. Simpson.
TREVISAN
Trevisan, an internationally renowned epidemiologist in the field of cardiovascular-disease risk factors, has served as interim dean since September 2001.
Smyth, a researcher whose expertise is in the areas of coexisting psychiatric and substance-abuse disorders and the impact of alcohol/drug problems and childhood and adult victimization on women's parenting, has been interim dean of the School of Social Work since Aug. 1 and previously served as associate dean.
SMYTH
Their appointments are effective immediately.
"Professor Trevisan and Professor Smyth are both demonstrated and distinguished leaders in our university community, and UB is doubly fortunate to be able to count on their continuing leadership of their respective schools," Simpson said in making the announcement.
"As a prominent research scientist whose own work has been so important to increasing our understanding of the social importance of a proactive, preventive approach to health care, Professor Trevisan has been instrumental in guiding the successful merging of UB's programs in social and preventive medicine and in health related professions into a comprehensive, integrated and forward-looking School of Public Health and Health Professions.
"In turn, Professor Smyth's distinguished work within the School of Social Work, both as a faculty member and administrator, has contributed in substantial and vital ways to that school's steadily growing reputation for integrating research excellence with social leadership."
Simpson added: "I am delighted that Professor Trevisan and Professor Smyth will continue to serve UB in these important leadership capacities. Thanks in no small measure to their contributions, the School of Public Health and Health Professions and the School of Social Work have both come to exemplify UB's mission to translate research and scholarly excellence into significant, long-term impact on the larger communities served by the university. We look forward to the future advances and achievements that will undoubtedly come under their watch."
Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, joined Simpson in praising the two new deans.
"It is quite an exciting day to have two illustrious University at Buffalo leaders be announced as deans," he noted. "I have every confidence that under Professors Smyth's and Trevisan's leadership the Schools of Social Work and Public Health and Health Professions will continue to advance the body of research in their respective disciplines, provide exemplary educational experiences to our students and translate their scholarship to serve the members of our communities.
"Professor Smyth's work—whether in her role as teacher, researcher, clinician or leader—always has been marked by excellence and the University at Buffalo community is very fortunate to have her as the new dean of the School of Social Work," Tripathi said. "With Professor Smyth's appointment carrying the full support of the social work faculty, I have every expectation that the school will continue making significant strides toward national prominence."
He added that "Professor Trevisan's appointment carries historical significance—he is the first dean of the newly designated School of Public Health and Health Professions. A distinguished scholar, he has been integral in establishing the School of Public Health and Health Professions and, equally as important, he has been integral in shaping the vision and scholarly direction of the school."
Smyth, an associate professor, joined the faculty of the School of Social Work in 1991, the same year she was named an associate research scientist in UB's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA). She was the school's associate dean for academic affairs from 1998-2001. In 2002, Smyth received a University at Buffalo Sustained Achievement in Research Award.
She has served as chair of the M.S.W. concentration in alcohol and other drug problems in the School of Social Work, teaching courses on addictions, assessment and treatment with persons with dual disorders and an innovative treatment method for trauma called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
Smyth also has a private practice as a clinical social worker with Ken Bath, Ph.D. & Associates, where she specializes in treating adult survivors of childhood trauma, anxiety disorders and addictions.
Smyth has worked in mental-health and addiction-treatment settings for more than 25 years as a clinician, manager, educator, researcher and program director. The author of many articles in refereed journals and book chapters related to substance abuse and mental-health problems, she has provided training and consultation to professionals in various disciplines on a wide range of topics.
She is a board-certified expert in the area of traumatic stress, a certified EMDR practitioner and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research and the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions.
Smyth earned her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University at Albany.
A professor of social and preventive medicine, Trevisan joined the UB faculty in 1985 and was chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine from 1993-2003 when it was located in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and then when it became part of the School of Public Health and Health Professions. In September 2001, he was named interim dean of the former School of Health Related Professions. The school in January 2003 merged with the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine to create the School of Public Health and Health Professions, and Trevisan was named interim dean.
Trevisan also holds appointments as professor in the Department of Family Medicine, adjunct professor with UB's Nutrition Program and senior associate research scientist with the Research Institute on Addictions. He is coprincipal investigator with UB's Clinical Vanguard Center of the Women's Health Initiative and director of Health in Housing, a World Health Organization Collaborating Center located in the UB medical school.
A fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the Council on Epidemiology of the American Heart Association, he is executive editor of Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease. He previously was newsletter editor for the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and was on the editorial boards of Child Nephrology and Urology, Ethnicity and Disease, and The Clinical Journal of Women's Health.
Trevisan has authored or co-authored more than 200 scientific articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 24 book chapters and monographs, and edited "Hypertension in Childhood" (W.B. Saunders 1989) with N.G. DeSanto and G. Capasso. He has made more than 40 invited presentations at national and international meetings, as well as at universities and other academic institutions, and dozens of scientific presentations.
He earned his medical degree from the University of Naples Medical School in Naples, Italy, and a master's degree in epidemiology from UB. Before joining UB, Trevisan was a consultant with the Institute of Internal Medicine and Metabolic Disease at the University of Naples and a research fellow at Northwestern University.
In 2002, Trevisan received the SUNY Chancellor's Research Recognition Award in recognition of his research accomplishments. Three years earlier he received the UB medial school's Stockton Kimball Award, honoring a faculty member for academic accomplishment and worldwide recognition as an investigator and researcher.