Researcher Receives Highest Faculty Honor

The Texas Tech University System today (Feb. 28) approved Afzal Siddiqui, Ph.D., as a Grover E. Murray Professor. Siddiqui has been a member of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine since 2000.

The Grover E. Murray Professorship is intended for a faculty member who attains national and international distinction for outstanding research, scholarly and creative achievement. TTUHSC President Tedd L. Mitchell, M.D., said Siddiqui exemplifies all of these criteria.

“Murray professors represent the very best among our faculty,” Mitchell said. “We value Dr. Siddiqui for his research and his many contributions to our university and we are proud to commend him with this honor.”

Steven L. Berk, M.D., executive vice president, provost and dean of the School of Medicine, said Siddiqui is an individual of extraordinary value in parasite immunology and vaccine development.

“He is an unselfish leader who has been able to skillfully balance the needs of his research and teaching, making him a consummate and invaluable member of our faculty,” Berk said.

Siddiqui holds several prestigious awards and appointments to local and national positions of honor, including a Fulbright Research and Teaching Scholarship for Southeast Asia. He is presently in India on a sabbatical to perform research and teaching under this scholarship. At TTUHSC, he has received the Dean’s Research Award (2003), the President’s Excellence in Research Award (2009), the Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Research Award (2009), and the Dean’s Basic Science Teaching Award (2010).

Siddiqui is funded as a principal investigator by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has obtained more than $4 million in peer-reviewed funding in the past five years. He is the recipient of the highest amount of funding from the NIH for TTUHSC during the past three years.

Faculty previously named Grover E. Murray professors include:

• Neil Kurtzman, M.D.
• John Orem, Ph.D.
• Gabor Racz, M.D.
• Quentin Smith, Ph.D.
• Doug Stocco, Ph.D.
• Abraham Verghese, M.D.

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