Dr. Susan Bloomfield retires after 27 years

Dr. Susan Bloomfield, professor and associate dean for research, is retiring this summer after 27 years at Texas A&M.

She joined the faculty in the Kinesiology division of the Department of Health and Kinesiology in 1993. She became director of the Bone Biology Laboratory and focused her efforts on bone health and biology with a focus on skeletal adaptations to disuse, microgravity, caloric deficiency and inflammation.

Her research has been funded since 1997 by several federal agencies, including the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, NASA, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health and the Department of Defense.

Bloomfield recently served on two Institute of Medicine committees advisory to NASA. She is a fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research and in the National Academy of Kinesiology.

From 2012-2016 she served as assistant provost in the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies. In 2016, she became the first full-time associate dean of research in the college, overseeing and building the College of Education and Human Development Research and Development Office.

After just two years, external awards nearly doubled, amounting to $39 million. Dean Joyce Alexander said she is grateful for Bloomfield’s four years of service to the position of associate dean for research as they were critical to the success of the new office.

“During Sue’s tenure we have seen our external grant dollars increase and have witnessed the initiation of the CERD office with pre-award, post-award and outreach support,” Alexander said.

Bloomfield said she is proud of the well-functioning Research and Development Office she helped build that supports faculty principal investigator’s proposal efforts, as well as grant management.

“I hope my legacy will be the increased appreciation at the university level of the innovative work of our faculty in education research and in translational research supporting human health,” Bloomfield said.

Dr. Jeffrey Liew will succeed Bloomfield as the next associate dean for research in the college.

“I am pleased to report that Sue will continue to guide our research endeavors part-time through June, coordinating with Jeff to create a smooth transition,” Alexander said.

Bloomfield looks forward to retiring to have more time to finish manuscripts and support future work with her colleague Bonnie Dunbar on the archiving of international astronaut/cosmonaut biomedical data.