Dr. Kathleen Brady Appointed VP for Research

Kathleen T. Brady, M.D., Ph.D., has been named Vice President for Research at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). In this role, Brady is responsible for managing all aspects of basic, translational, and clinical research at MUSC, including all research regulatory and accreditation affairs, external research relations, and the development of the research enterprise.

In announcing Brady’s appointment, David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, President of MUSC, noted her professional stature and commitment to MUSC, the home of her 27-year career in addiction psychiatry. “Dr. Brady’s passion for advancing new knowledge and scientific discoveries, combined with an enterprise-wide focus on better aligning our research and clinical efforts, will propel MUSC into new frontiers of research for decades to come,” said Cole.

“I have benefited greatly from being at MUSC in my career,” said Brady. “I look forward to giving back to this campus by improving infrastructure, services, and venues for communication and collaboration.”

Brady received her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University, her doctoral degree from the Medical College of Virginia, and her medical degree from MUSC, where she completed her residency and fellowship. She and her husband, R. B. Lydiard, M.D., Ph.D., are the parents of three daughters.

Brady is an internationally known researcher in drug and alcohol dependence. Her work has advanced scientific understanding of the biological and psycho-social gender differences in addictions and informed the development of medical and behavioral therapies best suited to women.

She was recognized in 2001 for these contributions with the Betty Ford Award and the South Carolina Woman of Achievement Award. Her mentoring of faculty and fellows has been recognized with the Marian W. Fischman Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and the MUSC Women Scholars Faculty Advancement Award.

Brady has served in numerous leadership roles, including Associate Provost for Clinical and Translational Science. In 2010, Brady led the establishment of the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Institute (SCTR) through winning a five-year $20 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. She recently led a successful effort to obtain renewal of this grant.

Brady’s new responsibilities include the creation of institutional research strategies and benchmarks as part of the strategic plan for Imagine 2020. She plans to identify areas within MUSC’s colleges that are well-suited for campus-wide collaboration in research and direct resources to those projects. Ideally, these projects will involve collaborations between clinical and research programs in more than one college.

“Our strength lies in the excellence of our research and clinical communities and the fact that we work on a small campus,” Brady said. “People work well together here. We wouldn’t have won these prestigious NIH awards if we had not already had a critical mass of high-quality research. I am really looking forward to working with colleagues at MUSC and nationwide to advance and build the MUSC research portfolio.”