Education

Ph.D., Epidemiology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 1992 
M.S.P.H., Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Florida, 1987 
B.S., Nursing, University of South Florida, 1981 

Background

Provost Donna K. Arnett is an internationally recognized genetic epidemiologist specializing in the genomics and pharmacogenomics of cardiovascular disease. Provost Arnett began her career as an assistant professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota (UM), where she quickly rose through the ranks to become an endowed chair as the Mayo Professor of Public Health. At UM, she oversaw the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network and the Genetics of Lipid Lowering and Diet Network, both family-based studies whose results brought about significant genomic discoveries underlying cardiovascular diseases. She went on to serve as the chair of the department of epidemiology and the associate dean for academics and strategic programs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. From there, she was recruited to serve as the Norton Healthcare Professor of Epidemiology and dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky. In 2012-2013, she served as the president of the American Heart Association, the major non-profit organization that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living, and fosters appropriate cardio care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Provost Arnett has published over 750 peer-reviewed articles, as well as 18 book chapters and two edited books. She received the American Heart Association’s 2017 Population Research Prize for “…insightful research successfully blending the basic molecular sciences with population studies to produce a highly relevant new understanding of major aspects of cardiovascular disease including risk prediction, hypertension, and heart failure.”

Provost Arnett has held approximately $60 million in grant and contract support from the National Institutes of Health and has received a number of awards and honors for her research, for her mentoring of students, and for her service to the public health community. She has been recognized as an international expert, falling in the top one-tenth of one percent of researchers in three different areas: hypertension, body mass index, and genetic polymorphisms. She has been a tireless active advocate for years, helping to educate lawmakers about the importance of funding for the National Institutes of Health, pushing for policy changes that promote prevention of cardiovascular diseases, and participating in public health campaigns to foster healthy lifestyle choices.

At USC, Provost Arnett provides leadership and oversight of all of the schools and colleges of the university as well as the Division of Academic Affairs, which includes:

• University of South Carolina Press
• Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Analytics
• University Advising Center
• Office of Enrollment Management
• Office of Financial Aid
• University Registrar
• Office of Academic Programs
• Center for Teaching Excellence
• Office of Distributed Learning
• Center for Integrative and Experiential Learning
• The Graduate School
• Continuing Education and Conferences
• Veterans and Military Affairs
• Graduation and Retention Network
• Civil Rights Center
• Anne Frank Center
• McNair Institute for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise
• Rule of Law Collaborative.