UNLV has selected Mary S. Croughan as its next Vice President for Research and Economic Development, effective July 31.

A seasoned administrator and researcher with more than 30 years of experience in higher education, Croughan is currently executive director of the Research Grants Program Office for the University of California (UC) systemwide Office of the President.

At UNLV, Croughan will lead the university’s overall research and economic development effort, which includes oversight of research infrastructure, compliance, and initiatives, as well as patent and licensing activities. She will also be responsible for driving economic development through industry and state/federal agency partnerships, working closely with campus leadership to create and strengthen collaborative research programs, and partnering on the continued development of the university’s research park.

“Mary is a proven leader and prolific researcher whose vision and breadth of experience make her the ideal person to guide the university forward in research and economic development,” said Diane Chase, UNLV executive vice president and provost. “She has great internal perspective on the role of research in higher education and impressive external contacts that will enable UNLV to create the types of partnerships we need to get to the next level.”

Croughan has been a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine since 1987 and has taught, conducted research, developed research policy, and served as vice chair for the department of family and community medicine.

In 2010 she was named executive director of the Research Grants Program Office, where she currently oversees a broad grant-making portfolio for the UC system and manages three additional research programs on behalf of the State of California. As a working group co-chair for the UC Commission on the Future in 2009-10, she helped lead development of the strategic plan for the UC system’s research endeavors.

“Great universities are defined by the depth and breadth of their faculty and research enterprise, and I’m looking forward to building on the tremendous momentum already in place at UNLV,” said Croughan. “We will continue to support excellence, access, and diversity across all research activities on campus; strengthen the nexus between teaching and research; and inspire new activity and partnerships that will push us closer to realizing our Top Tier vision.”

An epidemiologist with a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, Croughan is also an accomplished researcher whose work on infertility has been supported by the NIH and other federal agencies. Her research includes a longitudinal study on the health outcomes of more than 50,000 women and their partners who sought or were treated for infertility over three decades, work which has the potential to inform women’s reproductive choices worldwide.

While at UCSF, she worked closely with the National Institutes of Health on the NIH Roadmap and development of the National Children’s Study, and with federal agencies on congressional development of HIPAA policies and guidelines. From 1987 to 2004, she also developed and directed a practice-based research network at UCSF with more than 600 primary care physicians that was lauded as among the nation's best.

Croughan has served as chair for the UC system-wide Academic Senate and as president of the Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiologic Research. From 2012 to 2013, she completed an American Council on Education Fellowship at the University of Miami with President Donna Shalala.