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Who is Bill Galey?
Helping Students Find Physiology


William (Bill) R Galey, Jr., was born in Boise, Idaho. He grew up on a small farm and was spent a lot of time watching the farm animals as they were born, grew up, and then died when they got old. He always wanted to know “how and why” plants and animals, and even machines, work the way they do. He wanted to study science to find out how things really worked.

Finding Physiology
Bill always knew he wanted to go to college, although no one in his family had been to college before him. His mother was a nurse, but back when she was learning how to be a nurse, she didn’t have to go to college. Bill chose to go to college at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After he finished in 1965, he decided to go on and get a PhD degree studying the chemistry of the body (called biochemistry) at the University of Oregon Medical School. As he was studying, he found that more and more he was most interested in physiology. His research project for his PhD also ended up being more physiology than biochemistry. After getting his degree in biochemistry, he wanted to do his final research training in a lab that did physiology. After that Dr. Galey got a job at a drug company but only stayed there for a little while. Finally, Dr. Galey went to a job in the Department of Physiology at the University of New Mexico. It was only then that he finally was called a “real physiologist.”

Being a Physiologist
Dr. Galey worked at the University of New Mexico in its medical school for over 25 years. He did research to try and figure out how cells work based on how they are put together. He also wanted to find out what caused cells to get old. Another area he studied was to use human red blood cells to carry either drugs or some other chemical to treat a disease or find out if a person had a disease.

He also taught college students, students studying to be doctors, and students studying for their PhD degrees. He got the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award from his school in 1993. It was during his last 10 years there that he got real involved in how students are trained to be researchers and in how research happens in terms of finding and getting money and people to do it. He also got very active in helping middle school and high school teachers learn new ways to teach science to make it more interesting for students.

Changing Careers
As Dr. Galey worked with students, researchers, and teachers, he wanted to find a better way to teach the sciences so that students learn better. He also saw that students who want to become doctors really need to learn how to do research so that they can see where new drugs and new ways of healing people come from. Because Dr. Galey worked with students and teachers in his city and state, he got asked to work with teachers and students in different parts of the US and then in other countries all over the world. A couple years ago he was asked to work for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) doing the same kinds of things. HHMI is the world’s largest company that supports research in areas that have to do with biology and medicine. He decided to take the job, change careers to help teachers and students full time, and move from New Mexico to Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Dr. Galey is now in charge of a group of people who give money to students who are studying to be either doctors or researchers and give money to colleges that are training those students. He is also runs a program with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that has students who are studying to be doctors go to NIH for one year of research training.

Because of Dr. Galey’s background, many different groups have asked him to be on their committees, both in his city and state and for the whole US. APS has asked him to work with its group of members who mainly are teachers. He just got asked to be Chair of the committee that tells students about careers in science and physiology.

For Fun
Dr. Galey has four children. He likes to be with them and read, hike, camp and go to his children’s soccer, baseball, softball and basketball games. He also likes to grow gardens, listen to music, and attend plays and movies. Until he moved, he was a pilot and flew his own airplane around the country whenever he needed to go somewhere. 

Dr. Galey likes to help people. He has worked with teachers in their classes and with kids doing science activities outside of class. He has been a judge for science fairs for many years.  He has helped with the Boy Scouts and has worked with a group that feeds the homeless.