Who is David Pollock?
From University to Drug Company and Back Again
David Pollock was born in Indianapolis, IN on
September 29, 1955 and spent his formative years in the mid-sized town of
Evansville, IN. He enjoyed many subjects in school, including biology and
chemistry, but he also loved music, drama, and sports. His aptitude in
math and science combined with the efforts of a few inspired teachers made
him want to learn more. The “quest for knowledge,” as his high school
chemistry teacher would say, is a noble pursuit. Also, David’s work as an
athletic trainer in high school not only allowed him to participate in
sports indirectly but also fueled his interest in understanding how our
bodies work.
David stayed in his hometown and went to college at
the University of Evansville. He received a scholarship to continue as an
athletic trainer for the college football, basketball, and baseball
teams. His first two years in college as a biology major were rather
uneventful, as he took the usual array of introductory classes. However,
it was in his junior year when he took an advanced human physiology class
that he experienced a “revelation.” With the help of a truly inspired
teacher, Dr. Eugene Schroeder, David discovered that physiology was the
subject that really got him excited. This experience made him want to
learn more. He knew that in order to understand more about how the body
works, he would have to continue his studies in graduate school. However,
he first had to take time to get married to another biology major,
Jennifer Pollock.
David enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University
of Cincinnati and graduated with a degree in physiology in 1983. He then
went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and worked as a
post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Physiology. Although when he
started graduate school he thought he would end up teaching college, Dr.
Pollock decided that a career as an independent researcher was what he
truly wanted.
Using Physiology to Discover New Drugs
Dr. Pollock’s first job opportunity came in 1988 when
he went to work at a research institute that was just being established by
several faculty in the physiology department at Harvard Medical School in
Boston. The institute struggled financially, and so when a job offer came
along to work in the Drug Discovery Division at Abbott Laboratories a year
and a half later, he took it. He got the job through a friend he had met
while attending a meeting of the American Physiological Society. Working
in Drug Discovery was quite exciting, and Dr. Pollock was able to apply
his abilities as a physiologist to help develop several potential new
drugs, including endothelin antagonists that should soon be approved for
treatment of heart failure and prostate cancer.
Back to School
Just when it seemed that he had found his niche, Dr.
Pollock got to the point where his original desire to work as a
physiologist at a university and teach as well as do research began to
grow again. In 1995, he accepted a faculty position in the Vascular
Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia. In some ways, it was
like starting over, but the excitement of a challenging new position was
wonderful. He has been able to pursue some research questions that he
could not pursue at a drug company. More importantly, however, he is able
to work with students and other trainees and pass his excitement on to
them. What makes it especially enjoyable is that he gets to work closely
with his wife, now Dr. Jennifer Pollock, on many research and educational
activities.
Free Time
David 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 manage to find a
little time for himself for playing on the church softball team,
intramural basketball, and the occasional round of golf.
Advice for Graduate Students
Work hard. The more effort you put into your work,
the more rewards you will reap later. Being in graduate school is not a
job, so don’t treat it like one. It is a critical step in the development
of your future. You must be willing to become engaged in the scientific
community in order to open doors and be able to make available the most
options for your future.
Recent Publications
1. Pollock, D.M., G.H. Allcock, A. Krishnan, B.C.
Dayton, and J.S. Pollock. Upregulation of endothelin B receptors in DOCA-salt
hypertensive rats.
Am. J. Physiol. Renal Physiol. 278: F279-F286, 2000.
2. Cai, Z., J. Xin, D.M. Pollock, and J.S.
Pollock. Shear stress-mediated nitric oxide production in inner medullary
collecting duct cells.
Am. J. Physiol. Renal Physiol. 279: F270-F274, 2000.
3. Pollock, D.M., and J.S. Pollock. Evidence for
endothelin involvement in the response to high salt.
Am. J. Physiol. Renal Physiol. 281: F144-F150, 2001.
4. Pollock, D.M. Contrasting pharmacological ETB
receptor blockade with genetic ETB deficiency in renal
responses to big ET-1.
Physiol. Genomics 6: 39-43, 2001.
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