Since 2016 Dr. Sally Moody has served as Chair of Anatomy and Cell Biology (A&CB) during which she focused her efforts on four fundamental pillars fundamental to maximize the productivity of the A&CB department at the administrative, teaching, research, and outreach stratifications:
- Pillar #1: Departmental and Interdepartmental Reorganization
- Pillar #2: Teaching-Based Mission and Educational Advancements
- Pillar #3: Reorganization and Outreach Activities of the Gross Anatomy Laboratory
- Pillar #4: Neuroscience-Focused Research Mission
- Pillar #1: Departmental Reorganization:
- During the COVID pandemic, Dr. Moody reorganized the A&CB administrative staff by reassigning tasks to ensure operational continuity for the SMHS educational and research activities. This led to a highly productive administrative staff in symbiosis with the teaching and research needs of the A&CB department as well as with center-based activities (GWCC, GWIN) and those of other SMHS departments.
- Dr. Moody demonstrated leadership by creating the position of project coordinator, currently held by Siobhan Hannah, for duties relevant to many departmental academic programs, but also beyond the A&CB department such as the interdisciplinary research seminar series, Neuroscience Program seminars and university-wide activities. This polyvalent position is also pivotal for ensuring additional administrative functions interlinked to teaching, research, and financial activities of the A&CB department.
- As a crystallization of Dr. Moody’s outstanding administrative skills is the recognition of the exceptional administrative performance of Teresa Simbulan, who was awarded the 2023 Academic Medical Enterprise Staff Excellence Award.
- Pillar #2: Teaching-Based Mission and Educational Advancements
- Dr. Moody created the position of Vice-Chair for Education to oversee and coordinate the numerous educational programs undertaken by the faculty of the A&CB department. Dr. Kirsten Brown’s outstanding education expertise made her the ideal candidate to immediately take on these diverse and vital functions and to be an ambassador for promoting the Anatomy educational activities at the national and international levels via participation in the leadership of professional organizations, such as the American Association for Anatomy. The position of the Vice-Chair for Education is essential to coordinate with discipline leads, course directors, program directors, and block directors since all the A&CB medical educators fulfill leadership roles in nearly all the undergraduate medical blocks, undergraduate courses, graduate courses, and the physician assistant curriculum. Creating this position has provided accountability of the teaching performance of the faculty by creating and standardizing education metrics and providing reports for educational programs for the A&CB department.
- Dr. Moody enhanced the visibility of the A&CB department among GW undergraduate students by appointing new leadership for the Minor in Human Anatomy, a program tailored for future matriculation in a program dedicated to health professions.
- Dr. Moody created an infrastructure and opportunities for public outreach within and outside GW.
- Dr. Moody successfully recruited six non-tenure track education-focused faculty via advertisement at the national level. Many of her recruits have been the recipients of the Golden Apple Teaching Award, the Distinguished Teacher Award, the Academy of Education Scholars, and the Morton A. Bender Teaching Award. Dr. Moody oversaw the promotion of three non-tenure track education-focused faculty from Assistant to Associate Professor.
- Reorganization and Outreach Activities of the Gross Anatomy Laboratory
- Drs. Moody and Brown worked with the Dean’s Office to create the first professional position of the Director of the Gross Anatomy Laboratory (GAL) to coordinate with the Donor Program to procure cadavers for teaching and research purposes. The Director also has teaching responsibilities in gross anatomy laboratory sessions for various academic programs under the umbrella of the A&CB department. This professional position is historically groundbreaking at SMHS. Thus, the GAL exemplifies professionalism, integrity, and outstanding teaching activities across diverse medical, residency, graduate, health sciences, and undergraduate academic programs.
- Dr. Moody organized the GAL Oversight committee chaired by Dr. Marc Spencer, who works with the Director to devise diverse outreach activities with the DC community. Over the past years, the D.C. Fire and EMS is the largest group to have used the Gross Anatomy Laboratory. These outreach activities not only improved our visibility and our commitment to education in the greater Washington D.C. area, but also generated revenues.
- Neuroscience Research-Focused Mission
- When Dr. Moody joined the A&CB department in 1992, the department had joined with the Pharmacology department to establish the interdepartmental Neuroscience Ph.D. program. Each department donated “departmental” graduate student support slots to support students in this new program. From 1994-1996, Dr. Moody was the Director of the Neuroscience Ph.D. program during which she oversaw its course development, student recruitment and university funding.
- With the creation of the GW Institute for Neuroscience, Dr. Moody supported the development of this research area as a member of the oversight committee, faculty search committees, faculty mentoring committees, seminar committees and graduate student dissertation advisory committees, and teaching in various graduate neuroscience courses.
- The A&CB Department has a historic research emphasis in the Neurosciences. During her tenure as Chair, Dr. Moody has been actively engaged in building up the framework of the Neuroscience community. She worked with Dr. Anthony LaMantia, the founding Director of the GW Institute of Neuroscience (GWIN), to obtain the first NIH P01 grant (HD083157) at the SMHS titled “Pathology, Development Origins and Prevention of Pediatric Dysphagia”. Dr. LaMantia served as the Director and Principal Investigator and Dr. Moody served as the Associate Director and Co-PI.
- As a testament of her outstanding mentoring skills and dedication as a Chair, she has supported several aspects of the SMHS research efforts. She arranged for A&CB staff to provide support for the Neuroscience Program seminar series and the Interdepartmental Seminar Series. She oversaw a faculty survey of equipment needs, co-chaired an oversight committee and worked with the SMHS Council of Chairs, Research Office and Facilities Office to establish a website, protocols for oversight and Standard Operating Procedures. Dr. Moody also has supported the GW Cancer Center in several ways. She oversaw the successful promotion and tenure of two A&CB GWCC faculty to Associate Professor. She facilitated the promotion of two other GWCC faculty members to Associate Professor positions at other universities. She facilitated the recruitment of two tenure-track faculty into the A&CB department in cooperation with the GWCC leadership.
On a personal note, Dr. Sally Moody has been an intrepid, determined, fair, inclusive, compassionate and creative leader not only as the Chair of Anatomy and Cell Biology at GW SMHS, but also as an outstanding developmental biologist in the scientific community-at-large. She possesses a rare combination of talents that has culminated in a prolific career in the field of cell fate in the central nervous system and an outstanding mentor who has shaped the career of many of us across several decades. The impact she has had to advance scientific discoveries and to help pursue educational aspirations is engraved in all those who had the privilege to work with Dr. Moody and to be under her stewardship. We are all very grateful for her no-nonsense and genuine advice, and for pushing us to excel beyond what we dared being capable of. We wish Dr. Moody a well-deserved retirement filled with relaxation, travels and time spent with her family and friends. On behalf of all of us, thank you.
Anne Chiaramello, PhD
Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology
GW, School of Medicine and Health Sciences