{"id":660142,"date":"2025-07-16T12:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T16:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=660142"},"modified":"2025-11-19T15:24:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:24:51","slug":"my-rochester-story-stephen-dewhurst-a-door-left-open-660142","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/my-rochester-story-stephen-dewhurst-a-door-left-open-660142\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Dewhurst: A door, left open"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-embed-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"My Rochester Story: Stephen Dewhurst\" width=\"1062\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e3jMmOPKtqc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>How Rochester\u2019s Vice President for Research built a career on curiosity, collaboration, and access.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In a second-floor office in the Del Monte Research Building at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/\">University of Rochester Medical Center<\/a> is an unassuming door that wasn\u2019t always there. Nothing extraordinary. Simply an extra entrance cut into the wall when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112358508-stephen-dewhurst\">Stephen Dewhurst<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/university-research\/\">vice president for research<\/a> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/\">University of Rochester<\/a>, first moved into the space. Dewhurst asked for the extra door in 2009 when he became chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/microbiology-immunology\">Department of Microbiology and Immunology<\/a> because he wanted to offer direct access, without people\u2019s having to go first through his administrator in the adjacent room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaking yourself available is super important,\u201d Dewhurst says. \u201cPeople are more likely to come talk to you if they find you approachable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That small architectural adjustment is in many ways indicative of his approach to leadership: accessible and acutely aware of the human relationships that frequently underpin the successful work of scientists.<\/p>\n<p>With no fewer than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112358508-stephen-dewhurst\">49 patents or co-patents<\/a> to his name, Dewhurst has become a respected scientific and academic leader. An accomplished virologist and HIV researcher, he\u2019s served as the vice president for research since 2023 (having held the role on an interim basis for the preceding two years) and as the vice dean for research at Rochester\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/smd.aspx\"><strong>School of Medicine and Dentistry<\/strong><\/a> since 2013.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>He came, saw, and stayed<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>English-born Dewhurst, who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in cellular pathology from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and a PhD in pathology and microbiology from the University of Nebraska, first arrived on the Rochester campus in 1990. He never left.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI stayed because I really liked the people I met in my interview,\u201d he says. \u201cThat relationship to faculty, staff, and students here has never changed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though trained as a virologist during the early years of the HIV\/AIDS pandemic, Dewhurst\u2019s career was never confined to a single field. His research has crossed disciplines\u2014from a long-term collaboration with a pediatrician to studies of viral peptides with chemists. At one point, he worked with faculty from the departments of chemistry, obstetrics and gynecology, and infectious diseases to study how self-assembling peptides can influence the sexual transmission of HIV. These weren\u2019t just scientific intersections\u2014they were human ones, too.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_660432\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-660432\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-660432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of Stephen Dewhurst looking off-camera.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-1680x1120.jpg 1680w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-1250x833.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_100-660x440.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-660432\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>EVER BETTER TOGETHER:<\/strong> According to Dewhurst, it\u2019s this spirit of cross-pollination that makes up the essence of the University of Rochester. \u201cThe culture is extremely collaborative,\u201d he says. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The best collaborations, says Dewhurst, are those when \u201cyou get to work with people who know stuff you don\u2019t, and who think of things you\u2019d never think of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of his most enduring collaborations was with the late <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/news\/story\/pioneer-in-infectious-disease-research-leaves-world-wide-legacy\">Caroline Breese Hall<\/a>, a professor in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/pediatrics\">Department of Pediatrics<\/a> at the Medical Center. An expert in pediatric infectious diseases, Hall had begun to study a newly described virus known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJM199205283262201\">human herpesvirus 6<\/a> (HHV-6), which had been recently linked to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK448190\/\">roseola infantum<\/a> (also known as sixth disease)\u2014a very common childhood illness that her father, Burtis Breese, had studied back in the 1930s and 40s. Hall had access to clinical samples; Dewhurst brought molecular virology expertise to the table.<\/p>\n<p>Together, and with the help of other collaborators, they explored questions neither could have answered alone\u2014such as the clinical consequences of viral infections in young kids. In fact, in infants and young children, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJM199408183310703\">the team showed<\/a>, HHV-6 infection is a major cause of visits to the emergency department, febrile seizures, and hospitalizations.<\/p>\n<p>According to Dewhurst, it\u2019s this spirit of cross-pollination that makes up the essence of Rochester.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe culture is extremely collaborative,\u201d he says, pointing out the geographic proximity of the Medical Center and River Campus, which are across the street from one another.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something different here,\u201d he adds. Large labs with more than 20 people are quite rare at Rochester, \u201cso you likely need to collaborate to succeed. Most people cannot be an island unto themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>A mentor\u2019s gift<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Dewhurst\u2019s leadership style was forged not just in labs but also through various mentors in his early career. He recalls a pivotal moment during his time as a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, when he was part of a research team preparing a paper for\u00a0a top scientific journal\u2014the type of opportunity that can catapult a young scientist\u2019s career.<\/p>\n<p>The work involved scientists from two institutions, and the senior leaders of both groups felt that their contributions merited recognition. As a result, Dewhurst\u2019s position as first author on the paper was suddenly in jeopardy. A postdoctoral trainee at the time, Dewhurst knew the loss of first-author credit would greatly diminishing his future job prospects.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when his mentor, James Mullins, made a quiet but powerful decision. \u201cJim was kind enough to remove himself from the senior authorship, in order to create space for me to be first author,\u201d Dewhurst says. \u201cThat made a huge difference. I wouldn\u2019t be sitting here if that hadn\u2019t happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a lesson that stuck with him and one that he\u2019s been trying to pay forward to his own mentees.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_660442\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-660442\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-660442\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197.jpg\" alt=\"Stephen Dewhurst stands with his hand on a chair between two large paintings. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-1680x1120.jpg 1680w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-1250x833.jpg 1250w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-2021-04-23_Stephen_Dewhurst_197-660x440.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-660442\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>CHAMPIONING RESEARCH:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m grateful that I get to be a voice for the research community,\u201d says Dewhurst. (University of Rochester photo \/ J. Adam Fenster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><strong>An accidental leader<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Truth be told, Dewhurst\u2019s career was less of a well-laid plan than a slow accumulation of yeses to unexpected opportunities. At Rochester, he first led a summer research program for undergraduates at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/smd\">School of Medicine and Dentistry<\/a>\u00a0and then won a National Institutes of Health grant to support those historically excluded from biomedical science. Later came an associate deanship, a period as a department chair, followed by a vice deanship.<\/p>\n<p>Dewhurst insists he never set out to become an administrator. Instead, each step was something of a surprise. \u201cPeople have asked me to step into roles that I might not have thought of for myself,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>But he figured that if others believed he could do it, he\u2019d give it his best shot.<\/p>\n<p>Now, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/university-research\/about\/\">University\u2019s head of research<\/a>, Dewhurst is a steward of programs and initiatives far beyond his own training and expertise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m grateful that I get to be a voice for the research community,\u201d he says, explaining that he often speaks about the University\u2019s research with the media, legislators, members of the board of trustees, donors, and other supporters of the institution.<\/p>\n<p>As that voice he helps champion and oversee projects in areas as diverse as astrophysics, biomedical research, education, extended reality, humanistic inquiry, music, quantum science, and resilience. As an example, he describes Rochester\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lle.rochester.edu\">Laboratory for Laser Energetics<\/a>: the facility not only supports national security and world-class research on nuclear fusion and plasma physics; it\u2019s also the site of training for scientists, including those who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/nuclear-fusion-energy-ignition-milestone-544292\/\">helped achieve nuclear fusion<\/a>, or \u201cignition,\u201d in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe majority of the people who did that experiment trained at Rochester,\u201d Dewhurst says, adding that \u201cresearchers get paid to explore. In doing that, we create enormous societal benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Putting the art in science<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_660272\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-660272\" style=\"width: 488px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-660272 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-dewhurst-art-500w-488x630.jpg\" alt=\"Watercolor painting of Steve Dewhurst.\" width=\"488\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-dewhurst-art-500w-488x630.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/inline-dewhurst-art-500w.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-660272\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>ARTS ADVOCATE:<\/strong> \u201cThe ability to humanize people and make their stories understandable, relatable, and important,\u201d Dewhurst says, \u201cis something unique that art can do.\u201d (Credit: Charmaine Wheatley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An avid collector of contemporary art, Dewhurst\u2019s office boasts a dozen framed drawings and paintings\u2014all original art\u2014and two large canvases with strong colors and bold brushstrokes.<\/p>\n<p>He was instrumental in bringing artist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/people\/112361253-charmaine-wheatley\">Charmaine Wheatley<\/a> to the University, originally to create portraits of people affected by HIV and mental health diagnoses\u2014groups that are often stigmatized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ability to humanize people and make their stories understandable, relatable, and important,\u201d Dewhurst says, \u201cis something unique that art can do\u2014that science can\u2019t.\u201d Which is why, in part, Wheatley has more recently created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urmc.rochester.edu\/news\/publications\/neuroscience\/a-gallery-neuroscientists-in-color\">gallery of Rochester neuroscientists<\/a> that seeks both to humanize the researchers and to explain how their work improves lives.<\/p>\n<p>Those dual commitments\u2014to discovery and humanity\u2014shape how he sees the future of the University\u2019s research enterprise. Despite budget pressures and political headwinds, Dewhurst remains hopeful, noting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/provost\/four-transdisciplinary-teams-awarded-multi-year-funding\/\">University\u2019s recent decision<\/a> to invest $8.5 million in four new transdisciplinary research centers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all concerned about federal support for scholarship and research,\u201d he says, \u201cbut research will continue. And it\u2019ll continue to advance knowledge, to save lives, to improve the world\u2014because those ideals and goals are something we can all agree on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Rochester\u2019s vice president for research built a career on curiosity, collaboration, and access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":942,"featured_media":660332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[23942,37112,41872,18432,37252,41902,41012],"class_list":["post-660142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-department-of-microbiology-and-immunology","tag-faculty","tag-my-rochester-story","tag-school-of-medicine-and-dentistry","tag-staff","tag-stephen-dewhurst","tag-videos"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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