Etty (Tika) N. Benveniste, PhD

Tika Benveniste, PhD, is Senior Vice Dean, UAB Heersink SOM. She was the Founding Chair of the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology (2012-2015), and served as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology (2000-2011). Dr. Benveniste was elected in 2009 as a Fellow of the AAAS. She serves as Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee, National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

As Senior Vice Dean, Dr. Benveniste oversees faculty recruitment/retention, internal funding mechanisms, space allocations/metrics/renovations, Core Facilities, compliance issues, and strategic research planning. 

Dr. Benveniste’s lab focuses on neuroimmunology, studying the interaction of innate and adaptive immune cells with glia, specifically signaling mediated by the JAK/STAT pathway in terms of neuroinflammatory responses. These studies have implications for autoimmune/neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. Her laboratory has over 260 publications in highly-ranked journals. Dr. Benveniste’s research is supported by grants from the NIH and The Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Dr. Benveniste has mentored over 280 high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty. Thirty-six students have obtained their Ph.D. degree from her lab, and 34 postdoctoral fellows have been mentored by her.