James A. Bibb, PhD, Joins the College as the Inaugural Chair of the Translational Neurosciences

A distinguished researcher, James A. Bibb, PhD, has joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix as the inaugural chair of the Department of Translational Neurosciences.

Dr. Bibb’s research focuses on exploring the molecular mechanisms of intracellular signal transduction in health and disease. Throughout his career, he and his team researchers have employed multidisciplinary approaches to identify novel signaling mechanisms; characterize their actions; define their physiological functions; and to understand how they contribute to pathogenesis and pathophysiology

“His exceptional research background will help to establish the Department of Translational Neurosciences as a premier center of innovation and excellence in translational discovery,” said Dean Guy Reed, MD, MS.

And Dr. Bibb is not wasting any time. “Our department. is part of an overall large, aggressive expansion and growth initiative aimed at connecting our research to clinical problems and how we can improve people’s lives,” he said.

Prior to joining the college, Dr. Bibb was a professor and the vice chair of Research, as well as the Champ Lyons Endowed Chair for General Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He was also appointed faculty in the Departments of Neurobiology and Neurology at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Additionally, Dr. Bibb served as member of their Graduate Biomedical Sciences Program.

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with honors from Murray State University and the University of Kentucky, respectively. He worked in the Cell Biology and Physiology Department at Washington University in St. Louis before completing his doctorate in Cellular and Developmental Biology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His doctoral thesis characterized the poliovirus receptor protein in Eckard Wimmer’s laboratory.

Dr. Bibb’s postdoctoral training was conducted in the Laboratory on Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at the Rockefeller University under the direction of Paul Greengard. His work on the regulation of dopamine neurotransmission was cited in the Nobel Prize in Physiology for Medicine in 2000. In 2014, Dr. Bibb became a tenured full professor. During his career, he has amassed more than 100 publications.