Joseph R. Haywood, Ph.D., assistant vice president for the Office of Research and Innovation has announced his plans to retire from the university.
Dr. Haywood came to MSU in 2002 as professor and chair in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Between 2002 and 2011 he held positions of professor and department chair in that department, in addition to that of interim chair in the Department of Physiology in 2011. He moved into administration in 2005, taking the position of assistant vice president for the Animal Care Program in the Office of Research and Innovation. In 2008, he became assistant vice president for Regulatory Affairs and built the unit known today as Research Regulatory Support Services. In 2021, he took the position of assistant vice president, back in the Office of Research and Innovation, providing his expertise on federal regulations to oversee Export Control and Trade Sanctions and Conflict of Interest.
“Michigan State University has benefited tremendously from JR’s expertise," said Doug Gage, vice president for Research and Innovation. “His regulatory knowledge and national stature have been an immense asset for the University. He truly built our regulatory affairs program, and it is now recognized as one of the best in the country.”
“MSU has been a place of opportunity and growth,” said Haywood of his years here. “The research enterprise in particular has really grown. The last 30-35 years of regulatory changes have added responsibilities, and it’s also become more complex. Managing the research regulatory area during and through COVID was the most challenging time I’ve ever worked through. We were learning new things every day and trying to keep up from an internal process perspective so that we could keep research going.”
He continued, “I’ve really enjoyed the people, getting to know them as individuals, having the opportunity to work with them and to help pave the way for their success.”
Dr. Haywood and his wife, Molly, recently moved to Virginia, where they are looking forward to spending more time on hobbies, with family, and on community volunteer work. He remains on staff in an advisory role.
More about Haywood
Haywood’s research was focused on the role of neurotransmitters in the brain in controlling blood pressure. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Florida and did post graduate work as a research fellow in Pharmacology at the University of Iowa. He later held several positions in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Since 1981 he has served as an adjunct scientist at what is now Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio.
Dr. Haywood has held numerous leadership roles, including with the American Heart Association, where he has been a fellow of the Council for High Blood Pressure since 1986; as well as with the American Physiological Society, where he was a fellow and served on the APS Leadership Council. He also was a fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He served a term as president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology; held several roles with the Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs; and served on the International Council of Laboratory Animal Care Science. He also has served on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute program project review committee and the Council on Accreditation of the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International.
Dr. Haywood has held positions on editorial boards for several journals, including Hypertension and Clinical and Experimental Physiology and Pharmacology. He served on numerous health review panels for the National Institutes of Health, as well as many institutional committees including his current service on the Campus Infrastructure Planning Work Group at MSU.
He has 83 publications to his credit, as well as nearly a dozen reviews and book chapters.
Story by Kathleen VanderVelde
Photo by Tanya Bakija