Newswise — Bethesda, MD (April 20, 2016) – The American Physiological Society (APS) is pleased to introduce the new members of its leadership: President Elect Dennis Brown, PhD, and Councilors Jennifer S. Pollock, PhD; Willis K. Samson, PhD; and Harold D. Schultz, PhD. The new officers were elected by the APS membership and took office in April at the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego.
Dennis Brown, PhD, is a professor of medicine at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and director of the MGH program in membrane biology, part of the division of nephrology and the Center for Systems Biology. He received his PhD from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK and then moved to the University of Geneva, Switzerland, for his postdoctoral studies. He is director of the MGH Research Career Development Office and the current journal editor of Physiological Reviews. He is director of the MGH Career Development Office and the current journal editor of Physiological Reviews. Brown recently served as chair of the National Institute of Health’s Molecular Biology of the Kidney and Development (MBKD) study section.
A longtime APS member, Brown served as an APS councilor from 2011 to 2014 and became a Fellow of APS in its inaugural class in 2015. He has also served as editor of the American Journal of Physiology–Cell Physiology, as an editorial board member and associate editor for the American Journal of Physiology–Renal Physiology and the American Journal of Physiology–Cell Physiology.
“We need to stabilize strong established investigators while expanding opportunities for new incoming talent in physiology research. As president, I will lobby to increase resources for research, education and communication at local, federal and private levels to achieve this goal,” Brown said. “I will also work to downsize the increasingly debilitating administrative and regulatory burdens that detract so much from the work that we love—advancing scientific knowledge. Finally, we need to embrace the power of exciting big science projects and use new data sets to inform more traditional targeted experimental approaches.”
Jennifer S. Pollock, PhD, is a professor of medicine in the division of nephrology, professor and co-director of cardio-renal physiology and medicine, and associate director of the Center for Free Radical Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Pollock received a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana, and a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati. She obtained her PhD in the department of chemistry, biological division, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Pollock completed her postdoctoral training at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and at Abbott Laboratories.
An active member in the APS, Pollock has served terms as chair and secretary-treasurer of the Water Electrolyte Homeostasis Section and has served on the Education, Joint Program, Section Advisory and Science Policy committees. She organized two APS-sponsored conferences and numerous symposia. In 2015, Pollock received the Bodil Schmidt-Neilsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award.
“Ever since my early years in elementary school, high school, college and now in my career, I always wanted to be a scientist and was active in scientific societies. As a member of APS for 18 plus years, it is exciting to be a part of a society that promotes physiology and science in general. As councilor, I would work to ensure the Society focuses on how physiology can integrate with other areas of scientific endeavor through our members’ research, educational and advocacy activities.”
Willis K. Samson, PhD, is a professor of physiology and pharmacology and director of graduate programs in the biomedical sciences at St. Louis University. He is also editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Physiology¬–Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Samson majored in chemistry at Duke University in North Carolina as an undergraduate. After serving in the U.S. Army, he received his PhD in physiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
An active APS member, Samson has served as member of the Public Affairs and Joint Program committees and currently serves on the Endocrinology and Metabolism Section Advisory Committee and the Committee on Committees. He became a Fellow of APS in 2015. Additionally, Dr. Samson has served on numerous committees at the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and the Endocrine Society. He previously served as deputy editor-in-chief for the American Journal of Physiology¬–Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology and is the co-head of the Faculty of 1000 in Diabetes and Endocrinology. He is also the editorial adviser for the endocrine section of Comprehensive Physiology.
“APS has been my professional home since graduate school. I have depended upon the Society for guidance and support throughout my career. Because of my debt to the Society, I embrace the challenge of broadening the influence of APS members in the scientific community and extending the benefits of membership to a worldwide population of physiologists. As a member of Council, I would dedicate my service to the membership, actively pursuing their ideas and suggestions.”
Harold D. Schultz, PhD, is a professor of physiology at University of Nebraska Medical Center. He received his PhD from University of Illinois and conducted his postdoctoral training at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.
Schultz currently serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Physiology–Heart and Circulatory Physiology and American Journal of Physiology¬–Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, and is a senior editor for the Journal of Physiology. He has also served on the APS Chapter and Section Advisory committees and as secretary and then chairman of the APS Neural Control & Autonomic Regulation Section. An active member in the Nebraska Physiological Society, Schultz has served terms as councilor and president.
“I have been conducting research in autonomic control of cardiovascular-respiratory function over the past 35 years and have witnessed the evolving trends in research and education to downplay physiology as an ‘old-fashioned’ discipline. We have a critical need to enhance the relevancy of physiology in biological research, clinical medicine and general education. An important role for the APS Council is to ensure the Society continues to grow, not only in membership, but in stature as an important scientific discipline. Our leadership is dedicated to enhancing awareness of integrative physiology as the cornerstone to understanding human health and disease and as the scaffold required to build insights from molecular pathways into therapeutics.”
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: For more information, contact Stacy Brooks at [email protected] or 301-634-7209.
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