Janet Southerland

Biography

Dr. Southerland is an experienced clinician educator, administrator, and interprofessional trailblazer. She has led efforts at multiple institutions to transform the academic health sciences enterprise through active engagement with faculty, students and staff.  Aligning academic programs to best prepare the next generation of health professionals, she serves as the vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. While promoting a culture of innovation, diversity, inclusion, and excellence at her own institution, Dr. Southerland brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Frist College of Medicine Advisory Board. Dr. Southerland served as a professor and dean of Meharry School of Dentistry, where she also served as chair of the Institutional Review Board and a co-investigator of the NIH-funded Meharry Translational Research Center and co-leader of two cores. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, she was appointed the chair of Hospital Dentistry, chief of Oral Medicine, and director of the Hospital Dental Clinic. Her most recent position was at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston Texas, where she was vice president for Interprofessional Education, Institutional Effectiveness and Health Education. While at UTMB, she served as a professor of the Department of Nutrition Metabolism and Rehabilitative Sciences and a clinical professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Dr. Southerland earned her DDS, MPH in Health Policy and Administration, and a PhD in Oral Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been funded by NIH, HRSA, the VA, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is widely published, has led transdisciplinary research and clinical teams, and has served with numerous national, regional, and state professional, accreditation, editorial, and advisory organizations.