UTA’s commitment to helping people live longer, better lives gained even more strength over the last year with three world-class additions to the College of Nursing and Health Innovation.

Marco Brotto, a renowned expert in muscle physiology and musculoskeletal diseases, became the George W. and Hazel M. Jay Professor of Nursing, director of Bone and Muscle Collaborative Sciences, and director of the Ph.D. in Nursing program.

Mark Haykowsky, an expert in exercise physiology and cardiac rehabilitation, became the inaugural Moritz Chair in Geriatric Nursing.

Paul Fadel, an expert in integrative physiology and neural cardiovascular control, joined UTA as a professor of kinesiology and director of clinical translational science for the University.

All agree that UTA—which merged kinesiology and nursing in 2014—is headed rapidly in the right direction.

“What really attracted me was the momentum, the alignment of the vision that I saw of the president, vice president of research, provost, and deans toward becoming Tier One research intensive and focusing on health and the human condition,” says Dr. Brotto, who maintains a joint appointment at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Improving health and the human condition is a cornerstone of the University’s Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact.

The UT System Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention, or STARS, Program, provided additional funding to UTA for the new hires. STARS funding attracts scholars with exceptional records of research, teaching, and scientific leadership. It’s rare for nursing professors to attain such recognition, making the selection of Brotto and Dr. Haykowsky a notable achievement, notes Anne Bavier, dean of the College.

Dr. Fadel, who came from the University of Missouri School of Medicine, says nursing and kinesiology are a natural fit. The vibrant health care community in North Texas also provides an outstanding network for patient-based research.

“The opportunities to collaborate, the world-class facilities, and the access to patients are remarkable,” says Dr. Haykowsky, “It’s a gold mine.”