Faculty Advancement and Engagement

As Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and Engagement, Kirsten ensures that faculty have access to all available resources at NYUAD to advance their professional goals and achieve world-class excellence in their work. Her office will support faculty through consultation, programs for faculty development, and building connections in collaboration with the Deans and Vice Provosts; provide resources for training, workshops, and structured programs to achieve excellence among faculty as envisioned by NYUAD’s academic strategy; and lead the development of special recognitions and awards that promote faculty research, teaching, and community engagement.

Kirsten’s office expands faculty mentoring initiatives and provides resources for faculty as they prepare to advance through the process of tenure, promotion and contract renewal. Her work elevates the capacity of NYUAD faculty as academic leaders. In collaboration with experts across the NYU Global Network, her office expand the opportunities in career development for NYUAD faculty.

Kirsten Sadler Edepli was appointed as the Vice Provost, Faculty Development and Diversity in 2018. Kirsten is a biologist and passionate advocate for advancing equity in STEM, which she brings to this position to promote equity, inclusion, and belonging and to develop the talent of NYUAD faculty. Her background as a biologist focusing on the molecular and genetic basis of liver development and two important liver diseases, liver cancer, and fatty liver disease. Her work as a scientist has been interwoven with her passion for promoting gender equality in STEM, and her work on this area in scientific societies and in academic institutions has given her a deep understanding of the challenges facing women and minorities in achievements in STEM.  

Kirsten completed a BA at Mount Holyoke College in MA, a Master's in Medical Sciences at Harvard Medical School (1994), and a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at Harvard University (1998). She joined the faculty at Bosphorus University in Istanbul/Turkey and then moved to work with Nancy Hopkins at MIT where she was immersed in the science of studying zebrafish and the publicity surrounding efforts headed by Hopkins to promote gender equity among the MIT faculty. Kirsten joined the faculty as an assistant professor at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NY and was promoted to associate professor.

Kirsten joined the faculty of New York University Abu Dhabi as a tenured associate professor in biology in 2015 and was promoted to full professor in 2019. She has worked with students as the advisor for Women Empowered in STEM and with postdoctoral students and faculty to promote equity, inclusion, and belonging.