Steven Austad, Ph.D., has been named chair of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Biology. Austad comes to UAB from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where he served as professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology and interim director of the Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies.

Austad is a leader in aging studies; beginning Jan. 1, 2014, he will serve as the scientific director for the American Federation for Aging Research. He also serves on the initial review board for aging grants for the Ellison Medical Foundation, on the external advisory committee at the Mayo Clinic Kogod Center on Aging and the public policy committee for the Gerontological Society of America.

He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of California, Los Angeles; a bachelor’s degree in biology from California State University, Northridge; and a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Purdue University. Austad also writes “On Aging,” a biweekly column for the San Antonio Express-News.