Lumi Bakos, Ph.D. serves as the Associate Vice President for Research Operations in the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Services, Policy, and Management in the Arnold School of Public Health. 

As Associate Vice President for Research Operations she oversees the operations and new initiatives in the office of Research Infrastructure Support, the Office of Undergraduate Research, Office of IT and Data Management, and the Office of Research Cores and Infrastructure. Dr. Bakos is responsible for the overall administrative management and coordination of the office of the VPR’s operations and business-related functions (finance, budget, personnel, facilities planning, research policy administration, interpretation and dissemination).  As part of the university’s leadership, Dr. Bakos advises the Vice President for Research with design, refinement and implementation of services, programs, and policies to further the University of South Carolina’s position as a leader in world-class research.

Prior to her current position, Dr. Bakos was the Director of the Arnold School of Public Health Office of Research.  During her tenure the total funding for the school increased from $30M in FY2018 to $43M in FY2021.  She received her B.S. and M.A. degrees from Youngstown State University and her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Bakos’ research interest is in health policy and has been co-investigator or key personnel on multiple grants.

Dr. Bakos also serves as President of Bright Horizons Board of Trustees at USC, and as a board member of various organizations within and outside the university.  In 2023, Dr. Bakos’ reputation earned her an invitation to serve as an advisor to the First Lady on a White House council addressing issues related to increasing women’s participation in research-related careers in South Carolina.

Key accomplishments

• During her tenure, increased total university research funding by 37.5 percent from $225 million in FY2021 to $309 million in FY2024, and federal funding by over 51 percent, from $162 million in FY2021 to $245.4 million in FY2024.
• Successfully developed and oversaw the university-level Propel Research Mentoring Program. Created and managed the first NSF cohort for the program. The Propel program has garnered over $27M in new research funding from NIH and NSF since its inception.
• Redesigned the Office of Research and Grant Development with the goal of developing new research grant training for faculty and staff and increasing the number of large/center grants. Under her direction, the executive director implemented STRIVE, a new training program for grant staff. STRIVE is a comprehensive training program with the goal of exposing staff to all facets of research (starting from the proposal concept all the way to award closeout). The goal of the program is for research administration staff to gain knowledge and feel empowered when advising faculty in the realm of grant proposal and award management.
• Spearheaded the newly formed Office of Research Facilities and Infrastructure (ORFI). The goal of the ORFI is to centralize multi-disciplinary research cores at the University. Centralization of the cores is a multi-pronged and multi-faceted process as many of the cores have been managed at the departmental or college level with varying degrees of financial support and oversight.
• Optimize research operations and structure, including the identification and implementation of best practices and technologies that will enhance research efficiency and productivity across all units and system campuses
• Serves as liaison between the university and the largest healthcare provider in the state, Prisma, with the goal of developing a strong relationship between the two institutions to increase translational research.
• Serves as the university’s liaison with Lewis Burke, a leading full-service government relations firm specializing in advocating for the public policy interests of institutions of higher education and other research and education organizations.
• Successfully developed Magellan Journey, a new undergraduate research program to facilitate undergraduate student participation in research at early stages of their undergraduate careers. After one year, the Office of Undergraduate Research has placed over 70 freshman and sophomore undergraduate students in different research labs across the university.
• Helped develop large-scale research proposals and opportunities that align with academic priorities, including several notable projects: NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge LOI ($75 million), DOC Technology Hub, maternal health initiatives, USC Research Institutes (funding five different research groups), Brain Health, and Broadband Equity group and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) group.