Linda Buffington: The Quiet Architect Behind the Institute’s Early Days

Linda Buffington, Administrative Manager of the Biomedical and Translational Sciences Institute (formerly known as the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute), died on February 2, 2026. Linda began her career with UGA in 1987, served with the Institute from 2001 to 2018, and retired from this role in 2018.

In research institutes, we celebrate discoveries, grants, and publications. What we speak about less often is that none of those things happen without people who understand the institution deeply enough to hold it together and make it work. For more than a decade, Linda was one of those people, seeing systems, people, and problems in motion and knowing how to bring them into alignment.

Her 18 years with the Institute coincided with rapid growth—major federal grants, new interdisciplinary programs, and the incubation of what would become the College of Public Health.  Linda was an important part of building the Institute into what it is today. “Many of the operations we follow were implemented by Ms. Buffington and there is always an enduring story that starts with ‘when Linda was here….’  The impact Ms. Buffington had on the institute and how she supported our members lives on today,” shared Brad Phillips, Director of BTSI.

Linda had deep respect for science, even though she was not a scientist by training. In science, we talk about infrastructure as buildings and grants. Linda Buffington was infrastructure of another kind, the kind that holds institutions together despite the circumstances. “When we learned of issues or challenges, we owned them. If we didn’t know the answer, we found it,” said Barry Coleman of BTSI.

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