Patricia D. Hurn

Patricia D. Hurn, Ph.D., is a distinguished translational neuroscientist, nurse scientist and academic leader whose career spans nursing, medicine, neuroscience, physiology, pharmacology and biomedical engineering. As interim vice president for research and innovation at the University of Michigan, Hurn leads the Office of the Vice President for Research in advancing excellence, integrity and impact across U-M’s research enterprise.

Hurn served as dean of the University of Michigan School of Nursing from August 2016 to June 2026. Under her leadership, the school continued to strengthen its research, education and clinical impact. Hurn also holds faculty appointments in the Medical School and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

An internationally recognized scholar in women’s health, brain injury and stroke, Hurn has held senior leadership roles across several major academic and research institutions. From 2011 to 2016, she served as vice chancellor for research and innovation for the University of Texas System. Hurn also was a professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, where she also served as associate dean for faculty development and faculty affairs in the School of Medicine. She previously spent more than a decade at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, rising to full professor and directing core molecular laboratories in anesthesiology and critical care medicine.

Hurn is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Nursing, the American Heart Association, the American College of Critical Care Medicine and the American Physiological Society.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Florida, a Master of Nursing from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in physiology from Johns Hopkins University, where she also completed postdoctoral training in biomedical engineering.