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Who is David Pollock?  
From College to Drug Company and Back Again


David M. Pollock was born in Indianapolis, IN on September 29, 1955. When he was young he lived in the town of Evansville, IN.  He liked a lot of his classes in school, like biology and chemistry, but he also loved music, drama, and sports.  He was good in math and science and, with the help of a few great teachers, it made him want to learn more.  In high school David worked with the school sports teams as a trainer. This let him take part in sports even if he wasn’t playing, but it also got him wanting to learn how our bodies work.

David stayed in his hometown and went to college at the University of Evansville.  He got money to go to school by being a trainer for the college football, basketball, and baseball teams.  His first two years in college he took classes in beginning biology, but he was not real excited.  In his third year he took a human physiology class and that did get him excited. With the help of a really great teacher, David found out that physiology was what he wanted to study.  That class and teacher made him want to learn more.  He knew that in order to learn more about how the body works, he would have to go on with school.  Before doing that, he first had to take time to get married to another biology major, Jennifer Pollock.

David then went to the University of Cincinnati for more training in physiology. He got his Ph.D. degree in 1983.  He then went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and got more training in research in the Department of Physiology.  When he first started school Dr. Pollock thought he would end up teaching at a college. After getting his degree, he decided that he really wanted to just be doing research.

Using Physiology to Find New Drugs
Dr. Pollock’s first job came in 1988 when he went to work at a research place that was just being started in Boston, MA.  Because it was new, there were money worries. So, when another job came along to work at a drug company (Abbott Laboratories) after a year and a half, he took it. He got the job through a friend he had met while going to a meeting of the American Physiological Society. Working at a drug company trying to find new drugs was quite exciting. Dr. Pollock was able to use what he knew as a physiologist to help find many new drugs that would work for people whose hearts and kidneys are not working right and who have a type of cancer.

Back to School
Just when it seemed like he had found his place in life, Dr. Pollock began feeling like maybe he did want to work at a college after all.  So, in 1995, he took a job at a college called the Medical College of Georgia. In some ways, it was like starting over, but the excitement of a new job was great.  He has been able to do some research that he could not do at a drug company.  Even better is that he is able to work with students and show them how excited he is about physiology.  What makes it fun is that he gets to work with his wife, now Dr. Jennifer Pollock, on a lot of things.

Free Time
Dr. Pollock spends most of his free time with his three children, Luke, Sam and Michaela.  They keep him busy with baseball, soccer, Scouts, and other activities.  He does find a little time for himself by playing on the church softball team, basketball, and sometimes even golf.