HHS Announces New Appointments and Searches

New Dean

MARION K. UNDERWOOD is the new dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. Underwood began her professional career in 1991 as an assistant professor of psychology at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where she earned tenure before moving to the University of Texas at Dallas in 1998. She was associate dean of programs and administration in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences from 2013-15 before becoming dean of graduate studies and associate provost. She also was the Ashbel Smith Professor of Psychological Sciences at UT Dallas. Dr. Underwood is a graduate of Wellesley College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and she holds a master’s degree and doctoral degree, both in clinical psychology, from Duke University.​

Dr. Underwood is one of the foremost researchers in the developmental origins and outcomes of social aggression and how adolescents’ digital communication relates to adjustment. Her work appears in numerous scientific journals, and the National Institutes of Health has supported her research program since 1995. In 2003, she authored the book, Social Aggression among Girls, and in 2015, she was featured in the CNN special report "#Being13: Inside the Secret World of Teens.” Since 2003, Dr. Underwood and her research group have been conducting a longitudinal study on the origins and outcomes of social aggression and how adolescents use digital communication. Underwood, an Association of Psychological Sciences Fellow, is a recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health’s FIRST Award as well as the NIMH Independent Scientist Career Award. 

Underwood succeeds Christine M. Ladisch who served as inaugural dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, July 2010-June 2018.

Click here to hear more from Dean Underwood, including what drew her to Purdue, why she’s excited to lead HHS, and the great potential she sees for the College to take Giant Leaps in human health and well-being at every stage of the lifespan.

Health Sciences

AARON B. BOWMAN, Ph.D. is the new head of HHS’ Department of Health Sciences. Bowman comes to Purdue from the Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he was an associate professor. His laboratory studies metal neurotoxicology and gene-environment interactions in neurological disease. He also served as Director of the Vanderbilt Training Program in Environmental Toxicology, and as an Investigator with the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for research on Human Development. Dr. Bowman received his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California San Diego.

Nursing

PAMELA M. KARAGORY, DNP, MBA, MSB, RN, CNE is a clinical associate professor and serves as the interim head of HHS’ School of Nursing while a national search for the new head is underway.