Who is Bill Galey?
From Teaching and Research to Helping Students Discover Physiology
William (Bill) R Galey, Jr., was born in Boise, Idaho. He grew up on a
small farm in the pacific northwest and was fascinated by the birth,
growth, and death of the farm animals about him. He always wanted to know
“how and why” things, such as plants and animals, and even machines, work
the way they do. He decided to study science because of his interest in
understanding how things work.
Finding Physiology
Bill always knew he would go on to college, even
though no one else in his family had completed college before him.
Granted, his mother had gone to nursing school, but, at that time, college
was not required to study to become a Registered Nurse. His dad had
studied to be a veterinarian but was unable to complete those studies.
Bill decided to attend Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon where
he majored in chemistry. After graduating from college in 1965, he decided
to continue on for a PhD degree in biochemistry at the University of
Oregon Medical School. As he was working on his degree, he found that his
greatest interest was in physiology and biophysics. His research project
for his PhD ended up being more properly classified as physiology than
biochemistry. After receiving his PhD degree in 1969, he accepted a
postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in a biophysical
laboratory and then worked for a short time in a pharmaceutical company,
Dr. Galey was offered a position in a department of physiology at the
University of New Mexico. It was at this time he finally was identified by
others as a “real physiologist.”
Being a Physiologist
Dr. Galey worked at the University of New Mexico
School of Medicine in the Department of Physiology for over 25 years. His
research focused on understanding the relationship between membrane
structure and function at both the single cell plasma membrane level and
membranes composed of numerous cells. A particular area of interest was
the investigation of the mechanisms by which cell membranes "age." A
second area of interest was the use of human erythrocytes as targeted
carriers of therapeutic or diagnostic agents.
He also taught medical, graduate, and undergraduate
students during that time, and received the Outstanding Teacher of the
Year award in 1993. It was during his last 10 years there that he became
involved in graduate education and research administration. He also became
very involved in helping middle school and high school teachers develop
new ways to teach science.
Changing Careers
As he began to be more involved in working with
students, researchers, and teachers, he became more interested in
improving the way the medical sciences are taught and learned. He also
recognized the increasing need to encourage medical students to learn how
to do research so that they would understand how new drugs and treatments
are developed. As a result of his involvement in graduate and medical
education, not only at his own institution, but nationally and
internationally as well, and through lecturing and consulting with schools
on how to improve their educational programs, he was approached by the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to consider applying for a position
with them. HHMI is the world’s largest private foundation conducting
biomedical research. He decided it was the right time in his life to
change the focus of his career and so he accepted the position and moved
across the country from New Mexico to Maryland.
Dr. Galey is
currently working as the Director of Graduate Education Programs for HHMI
in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The group he leads supports graduate biomedical
research education through fellowships to graduate students, medical
students, and postdoctoral fellows or through grants to institutions that
provide training to such individuals. He also directs a partnership
program between HHMI and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that
provides one year of research training experience for medical students at
the NIH.
Because of his
knowledge and expertise, Dr. Galey has been asked by many organizations,
including APS, to serve on local and national committees and boards. He is
very active within APS in the Teaching of Physiology Section. In addition,
he was just selected to be the Chair of the APS Career Opportunities in
Physiology Committee, which develops materials and programs to encourage
students to consider a career in science and especially physiology.
For Fun
Dr. Galey has
four children. He likes to be with them and read, hike, and camp. He also
enjoys growing gardens, listening to music, and attending plays and
movies. Until recently he was a pilot and flew his own airplane around the
country for business or pleasure.
Dr. Galey remains very involved in volunteer work. He
worked with teachers in their classrooms, kids in alternative education
programs and volunteered for many years as a science fair judge. He’s also
worked with Boy Scouts and has volunteered with a group feeding the
homeless.
Advice for Graduate Students
In addition to developing your research skills,
develop those skills that will make you competitive in the career you wish
to pursue, i.e., get teaching training if you are interested in teaching,
business skills if you are interested in industrial career, etc.
Representative Publications
1. Gopalan, V., A.F. Pastuszyn, W.R. Galey, and R.H.
Glew. Exolytic hydrolysis of toxic plant glucosides by guinea pig liver
cytosolic --glucosidase. J. Biol. Chem. 267: 14027-14032, 1992.
2.
Brahm, J., W.R. Galey, and C. Levinson. Water and solute permeation of
porous membranes. Aflred Benzoin Symposium: Isotonic Transport in Leaky
Epithelia. Vol. 34: 504-513, 1993.
3.
Mills, D.E., W.R. Galey, and H. Dixon. Effects of dietary fatty acid
supplementation on fatty acid composition of young and old erythrocytes.
Biochem. Biophys. Acta 1149: 313-318, 1993.
4.
Mills, D.E., M. Murthy, and W.R. Galey. Dietary fatty acids, membrane
transport and oxidative sensitivity in erythrocytes. Biochem. Biophys.
Acta 1996.
5.
Aiken, N.R., W.R. Galey, and J.D. Satterlee. A perocidative model of human
erythrocyte intracellular Ca2+ changes with in vivo cell aging:
Measurement by 19F NMR spectroscopy. Biochem. Biophys. Acta
1270: 52-57, 1995.
6.
Ying, W., and W.R. Galey. Effects of oxidative damage on the intracellular
calcium concentration in human erythrocytes. Fed. Proc.
1996.
7.
Ying, W., J. Marcilla, and W.R. Galey. Effects of oxidative stress on the
[Ca2+] of human red cells. FASEB J. 11:3, A630, 1997.
8.
Galey, W.R., and W. Ying. Effects of oxidative stress on the calcium
homeostasis of human erythrocytes and the role of the altered calcium
homeostasis in oxidative damage. Abs. XXXIII Inter Cong. Physiol. Sci.
PO 19.10, 1997.
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