Nashville attorney Edward D. Lanquist Jr. has been installed as vice president of the Tennessee Bar Association and will advance to the presidency in 2024.

Lanquist has been active in the Tennessee Bar Association and other legal and community organizations for many years, serving most recently as the TBA’s general counsel. He is on the faculty of the Nashville School of Law, is a past president of the Nashville Bar Association and past president of the Tennessee Intellectual Property Association. He holds engineering and law degrees from the University of Tennessee and is a co-founder of Patterson Intellectual Property Law.

Taking office as president was Tasha Blakney of Eldridge & Blakney PC in Knoxville, James “Jim” Barry of Germantown has taken office as president-elect.

Baker Donelson adds business litigator Saffles

Business litigator Kenny L. Saffles has joined Baker Donelson as of counsel in the firm’s Nashville office.

Saffles concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, products liability, transportation, premises liability, medical malpractice and insurance defense. He has litigated cases in state and federal court and in arbitration, has tried jury and non-jury cases, and has briefed and argued appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and in the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

After working with Baker Donelson 2006-2014, Saffles joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee as an assistant United States attorney in the civil division, where he also functioned as the division’s senior litigation counsel and coordinator for civil rights investigations.

In 2017, he was awarded a certificate of commendation from the United States Department of Justice for outstanding performance and assistance in support of the Civil Rights Division.

Aliyu named director of Vanderbilt institute

Physician-epidemiologist Muktar Aliyu, MBBS, MPH, DrPH, the associate director for Research with the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, has been named the new director of the institute, beginning July 1.

Aliyu, who joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2009, is professor of Health Policy and Medicine at Vanderbilt, and professor of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College. In his current roles at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he has been pivotal in guiding VIGH into capacity-building partnerships that deepen existing research ties with key partners in Nigeria and Ghana. His research priorities include improving access to sustainable, high-quality HIV/AIDS services in resource-constrained settings.

Aliyu is one of two faculty members of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to be among 80 physician-scientists inducted last year into the American Society for Clinical Investigation, an elite honor society of physician-scientists from the upper ranks of academic medicine and industry. He also serves on the Lancet Commission for Nigeria, on journal editorial boards and NIH study sections. He holds leadership positions in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program and in the occupational medicine residency program at Meharry Medical College.

Aliyu was born and raised in Nigeria. After completing his medical school training there, he came to the U.S. to pursue graduate studies in public health. He completed an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics at George Washington University and a doctorate in public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He then completed a residency in occupational medicine at Meharry Medical College and a fellowship in preventive medicine at Mayo Clinic.

Since then, he has dedicated his career to the practice of global health and to the scientific and humanitarian advancement of the field through research, service and training.

Meharry welcomes Lindsey as graduate school dean

Dr. Merry Lindsey is joining Meharry Medical College as its dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research. Lindsey will provide key leadership and advancement for the College’s Ph.D. and M.S. degree programs, overseeing more than 200 students with a focus on preparing them for professional careers within health sciences.

An accomplished educator and cardiovascular researcher, Lindsey has dedicated her career to understanding the cardiovascular system and discovering breakthroughs to some of the biggest challenges in heart and vascular health. Authoring and co-authoring more than 115 journal articles, nearly 100 academic article reviews along with 11 white papers, she has amassed a monumental record of experience, which she uses to guide her leadership within academia. Lindsey has mentored hundreds of trainees and junior investigators through their education and research pursuits.

Lindsey comes from University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she served as the Stokes-Shackleford Professor and Chair of the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology. While at University of Nebraska Medical Center, she became the founding director of the Center for Heart and Vascular Research, which grew to nearly 200 members during her tenure.

In addition to her roles at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. Lindsey has given back to our nation’s service men and women during her time as a research health scientist in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs beginning in 2010. Dr. Lindsey will continue her work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs when she relocates to Nashville.

Lindsey earned a Ph.D. in cardiovascular sciences from Baylor College of Medicine and a B.A. from Boston University in biology.

VU School of Medicine Basic Sciences taps dean

Vanderbilt University has named John Kuriyan, one of the world’s leading structural biologists, dean of the School of Medicine Basic Sciences.

Kuriyan’s appointment, effective Jan. 1, will advance the university’s goal of expanding its global research impact by leveraging fundamental investigations in molecular, cellular and developmental biology into foundational advances in drug discovery, pharmacology and genetic engineering.

Kuriyan, Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator for more than 30 years, will succeed Lawrence J. Marnett, the founding dean of Basic Sciences, who has agreed to extend his leadership through December.

Kuriyan is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Society, the independent scientific academy of the United Kingdom.

A widely published and cited scholar in biochemistry, cancer and the mechanisms of signal transmission inside cells, Kuriyan’s research focuses on the workings of molecular switches in the cell.

Kuriyan, originally from India, studied for two years at the University of Madras before transferring to Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in chemistry from Juniata College in 1981, then earned a doctorate in physical chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986.

Sumner’s Holt named ACM executive director

Anthony Holt has been named executive director of the Association of County Mayors and will assume the position Sept. 1.

Anthony has served four consecutive terms as the county executive of Sumner County. During his tenure as county executive, Holt has represented Sumner County as the chair of several boards, including the Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency, Regional Transportation Authority Finance and Audit Committee and the Tennessee Central Economic Authority.

Holt served as president of the Greater Nashville Regional Council 2019-2021. He also received the Council of Governments’ Mayor of the Year Award twice, most recently in 2021.

Holt holds a degree in business administration from the University of Memphis and earned his certified public administrator distinction from the University of Tennessee in 2010. Holt spent 18 years on the Sumner County Commission. His experience also includes owning a small business and working with American Airlines.