Manoj Puthenveedu Appointed Rackham Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Initiatives

Rackham Graduate School welcomes Manoj Puthenveedu as associate dean for academic programs and initiatives. His appointment was approved by the U-M Board of Regents to begin July 1. Puthenveedu is the Pfizer Upjohn Research Professor of Pharmacology II and a professor of pharmacology in the U-M Medical School. As associate dean, he will have responsibility for relationships with Rackham master’s and Ph.D. degree-granting programs in the biological and health sciences.

Puthenveedu enters his role having previously served as the director of the Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program from 2020 to 2024, and as a member of Rackham’s faculty committee on mentoring, the MORE Committee, from 2019 to 2025.

“I look forward to working with Professor Puthenveedu to support our strong relationships with graduate programs in the health and biological sciences, and to explore new ways to collaborate with others on campus to advance the success of Rackham students,” says Rackham Dean Mike Solomon. “His prior graduate program and training grant leadership, as well as his prior Rackham service, make him an excellent fit with the needs of graduate students, programs, and the graduate school.”

Puthenveedu’s research group studies how patterns of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling are disrupted in addiction, heart disease, and cancer, and how these patterns can be re-engineered and corrected. This is a new idea based on recent data that the same drug/receptor pair can signal differently from different locations in the cell, and that the full effect of a drug is based on the pattern generated by signaling from all these locations. They use innovative fluorescence microscopy techniques to directly visualize and study receptor movement to and activation at different locations in real time. The long-term goal is to identify factors that will allow them to actively relocate receptors to specific sites in the cell and fine-tune receptor physiology, offering a brand-new and potentially transformative approach to receptor pharmacology and drug development.

“I feel honored to join the Rackham leadership team, and to work with colleagues across the university to strengthen Rackham’s mission of advancing graduate education,” Puthenveedu says. “My own experience, moving to the United States to pursue graduate studies and navigating an unfamiliar environment, left a lasting impact on my approach to graduate education and mentoring. For me, it became obvious that graduate education is not only about scholarship, but also about intellectual and personal growth. 

“What excites me most about this role is the opportunity for connections and stewardship, by facilitating conversations across programs, learning from each other, shaping thoughtful policies, and building resources to support students and faculty. I look forward to working with Rackham and the programs to strengthen partnerships across campus and help ensure that students and faculty of all backgrounds have the support they need to grow and thrive at Michigan.” 

Puthenveedu earned his M.B.B.S. from the Government Medical College in Calicut, India, in 1996, and his Ph.D. in biological sciences from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the departments of psychiatry and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. He served as an assistant professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University from 2009 to 2015, before being promoted to associate professor in 2015. He joined the U-M faculty as an associate professor of pharmacology, with tenure, in 2017, and was promoted to professor in 2023. In 2025, he was appointed as the Pfizer Upjohn Research Professor of Pharmacology II in the Medical School, and was elected as a Fellow of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.