Philip Clifford announces retirement
Philip Clifford to retire effective Aug. 1.
Dr. Clifford came to UIC in 2013 as the founding AHS associate dean for research. During his tenure in the AHS Office of Research, grant awards in the college increased from ~$10M to $24.1M. He also served as director of mentoring and professional development for the UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science where he established new professional development programs for UIC graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinical research coordinators and faculty. For graduate students and postdoctoral fellows he organized the Your Future in Science career seminar series which recently held their 100th seminar, created grant coaching groups and worked with the UIC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to develop a two semester manuscript writing program for postdoctoral fellows, For clinical research coordinators, he collaborated with the UIC Cancer Center to develop the Best Practice Hour seminar series and the RC Plus Certificate program. For faculty, he initiated professional development seminars and workshops, hosted grant writing workshops, and worked with a team of facilitators to offer training in research mentoring for almost 200 UIC faculty.
Dr. Clifford’s research program has used approaches from the cellular to in vivo human level to elucidate the physiological mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle blood flow during exercise and has been funded by the NIH, the American Heart Association, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He and his colleagues have published more than 130 scientific articles and book chapters. One of his most fulfilling activities at UIC was mentoring postdoctoral fellows and PhD students in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition. He is a fellow of the American Heart Association, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Physiological Society. He serves on the editorial boards of several physiological journals. He is also a consultant in the medical device industry and a member of the Anesthesia and Respiratory Devices Panel at the FDA.
Dr. Clifford is known nationally as a champion for career and professional development for early career researchers through his involvement in professional organizations including the National Postdoctoral Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Federation of Societies for Experimental Biology, and the National Research Mentoring Network.
He is a coauthor of the widely acclaimed career website, myIDP.sciencecareers.org, which has >500,000 users and a frequent speaker at universities and conferences. For his career development efforts, he was honored with the NPA Distinguished Service Award in 2012 and the AAMC's Innovative Institutional Partnerships Award in 2013. Other recent honors have included Medical College of Wisconsin Alumnus of the Year in 2023 and the UIC Graduate School Mentoring Award in 2023.