Rebecca Cunningham

Rebecca Cunningham is responsible for fostering the excellence and integrity of research across all three U-M campuses. She has been vice president for research since April 1, 2020.

She has vast experience as a researcher, administrator, educator and clinician, including more than 20 years spent as an emergency medicine physician at U-M and Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Mich.

She has secured more than $50 million in federal research funding, and she has authored or co-authored more than 170 scholarly publications that focus on injury prevention, opioid overdose, substance misuse prevention and public health.

She directs the U-M Injury Prevention Center, established a national consortium to improve firearms safety, served as associate vice president for research-health sciences and is the former research chair for the U-M Department of Emergency Medicine. She is the William G. Barsan Collegiate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the U-M Medical School, as well as professor of health behavior and health education at the U-M School of Public Health.

She earned a bachelor of science degree from Fairfield University and medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She did postdoctoral work at U-M before joining the faculty as a lecturer in 1999.