Madhavi Kadakia named associate dean for research affairs at Boonshoft School of Medicine

Madhavi Kadakia, associate dean for research affairs at Boonshoft School of Medicine

Madhavi Kadakia, Ph.D., chair and professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been named associate dean for research affairs at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, effective Jan. 1.

She joined Wright State University in 1999 and has served as department chair since Jan. 1, 2015. She continues to serve in the role.

Kadakia attained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology from the University of Mumbai. After receiving her Ph.D. in infectious diseases and microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and later conducted research at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

Before becoming chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Kadakia served as the director of the master’s degree program in the department. She also serves as the associate director of the Center for Genomics Research. She was awarded the Faculty Mentor Award in 2010 from the Boonshoft School of Medicine.

Much of her research, with funding from the National Cancer Institute, has focused on the identification of signaling pathways that play a role in cancer and its development. A second major research area of focus has been identifying biomarkers that can help differentiate stages of cancer and potentially shed light on personalized treatments for patients. She also has worked as an organizing member of the International p63/p73 Workshops, which focus on the family of genetic transcription factors. Kadakia served as a visiting research scholar at Nottingham University and the Leicester Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom in 2011.

In 2018, Kadakia was selected as a fellow in the 2018-2019 Class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women. The yearlong, part-time fellowship is for women faculty in schools of medicine, dentistry, public health and pharmacy. It is a core program of the Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia and is dedicated to developing professional and personal skills required to lead in the complex health care environment with special attention to the unique challenges facing women leaders.