Becky Dutch Wins SEC Faculty Achievement Award

Rebecca Dutch, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry in the College of Medicine, has been named winner of the 2022 SEC Faculty Achievement Award for the University of Kentucky, the SEC announced on Wednesday.

Dutch leads the college’s research initiatives as the vice dean for research, and her own scholarship focuses on emerging paramyxoviruses, with a particular emphasis on viral entry, assembly, and spread. She has been a key member of UK’s START team (Screening, Testing and Tracing, to Accelerate Restart and Transition), aiding in the university’s efforts to maintain a safe return to campus.

Dutch has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2001, and she is a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology. She is editor of the Journal of Virology, Plos Pathogens, Viruses and mSphere and on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Virology. Dutch has been a member of numerous grant review panels, and her list of honors is extensive, including the University of Kentucky University Research Professor award.

“Dr. Dutch is an outstanding scholar with an international reputation as a stellar virologist – an attribute and capacity that has only grown in importance during the pandemic,” said Robert DiPaola, M.D., Acting Provost at Kentucky. “She has dedicated her career to helping students, our campus and the world beyond the university, and she embodies what it means to be a scholar at a flagship, land-grant university – someone dedicated to the teaching, research, and service missions that make what we do vitally important to the future.”

To receive an SEC achievement award the faculty member must have achieved the rank of full professor; have a record of extraordinary teaching, particularly at the undergraduate level; and have a record of research that is recognized nationally and/or internationally. University winners will receive a $5,000 honorarium from the SEC and will become their campus nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award, which will be announced later this month.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Rebecca Dutch.