Leadership
Leonard "Rusty" Johnson, Ph.D.
Thomas A. Gerwin Professor, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Department of Physiology; Chair, Department of Physiology, University of Tennessee, Memphis; Interim Vice Chancellor, Research, University of Tennessee, Memphis
Dr. Johnson came to University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 1989 to chair the Department of Physiology and serve as the Thomas A. Gerwin Professor in that department. Prior to these positions,, Dr. Johnson was a professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He also served as an associate and assistant professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Oklahoma Medical School. Dr. Johnson began his academic career as an instructor at the University of California, Los Angeles, after he earned a doctorate in Physiology from the University of Michigan.
Throughout his career, Dr. Johnson has garnered numerous honors and awards. He is a two-time winner of the National Institutes of Health Merit Award. Most recently Dr. Johnson was honored as the John H. Walsh Memorial Lecturer at the UCLA College of Medicine. With over 225 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Johnson continues his research. He currently is the principal investigator of two NIH funded projects and is a co-investigator for two additional NIH research studies.
Dr. Johnson led the UTHSC Department of Physiology for 16 years until he stepped down from the chair position in the fall of 2005 to assume the role as Vice Chancellor for Research. Since this time, Dr. Johnson has instituted new programs and is pursuing exciting initiatives to fulfill the UTHSC research mission.