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Scott was born in Storm Lake, Iowa on May 6, 1963. His participation in sports (wrestling and long-distance running) was what drove his interest in science and his final decision to study physiology.  He was always trying to understand what made some athletes perform better than others.  He read a lot on training methods and diets and then would try the new training methods and diets on himself.  Although his reading and experimentation were not always backed by the best science, they did increase his interest in science and eventually led him to his career choice of exercise physiology.

Sports and School
Scott attended a small college in Iowa called Northwestern College.  He chose to go there because the school had excellent academics and allowed him to continue running track and cross-country.  While there he met a faculty member who was very interested in sports research and reinforced his interest in that subject.  Dr. Beach took Scott to his first scientific meeting.  He also helped Scott apply to a number of graduate schools for his Master’s degree.  Scott graduated from Northwestern College with a B.A. in Biology and a minor in Physical Education. 

He chose to go to the University of Northern Iowa for his Master’s degree, primarily due to the fact that it was in his home town of Cedar Falls, Iowa and he was familiar with some of the faculty.  He knew that Dr. Forrest Dolgener was interested in research on long-distance running and felt that Dr. Dolgener would be a good person to help him begin to understand the research process.  Scott’s goal was always to finish his Master’s and then continue his graduate education at another school.  At the University of Northern Iowa, Scott was given the opportunity to spend a large amount of time in a “real” laboratory.  Since all of the research conducted in that lab was on human subjects, the graduate students were able to try out new techniques using each other as subjects.

Scott then chose to go to the University of Missouri for his Ph.D. work because Dr. Ben Londeree had conducted a number of studies regarding distance running performance that Scott found interesting.  During his first 2 years in Missouri, Scott was involved in a number of studies investigating performance in distance runners and cyclists.  As he began to develop some of his research questions, it became clear that it was going to be difficult to answer these questions in humans.  At about that time, Scott attended a seminar by Dr. Harold Laughlin (also at the University of Missouri) who described techniques he used to assess the exercise response in rats.  He was willing to let Scott work in his lab to learn those techniques. Scott ended up conducting his dissertation research in that lab.  During his time working in Dr. Laughlin’s lab, Scott was exposed to a lot of basic research that was not related necessarily to exercise. 

After completing his dissertation, Dr. Mittelstadt wanted to continue his training in research on the control of the cardiovascular system.  He chose a post-doctoral fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin with Drs. Phil Clifford and Leonard Bell.  His experience there was a great learning experience because it allowed him to continue learning about research in chronically instrumented animals (now he was working in dogs) and continue conducting research on exercise performance in endurance athletes (cross-country skiers). 

At the present time Dr. Mittelstadt works with a group of other scientists. The group conducts Safety Pharmacology studies.  Safety Pharmacology studies are studies that investigate the potential undesirable pharmacological effects of a drug on physiological function.  The major organ systems they study are the cardiovascular, respiratory, and central nervous systems.  In addition, Dr. Mittelstadt designs pre-clinical safety programs to support the clinical development of drugs.  The studies he helps plan include short-term, long-term, reproductive, and genetic toxicity studies.  The multi-organ system physiology that he learned as an exercise physiologist is very helpful as he tries to integrate data from many types of studies into an integrated conclusion. 

Advice for New Investigators
Don’t panic and don’t feel like you have to know everything.  Now is the time to get second opinions from the people you met and worked with during graduate school and your postdoctoral fellowship.  It is also important to find someone within your own institute with whom you can have honest discussions.

2. Mittelstadt, S.W., L.B. Bell, K.P. O'Hagan, and P.S. Clifford. Muscle chemoreflex alters vascular conductance in nonischemic exercising skeletal muscle. J. Appl. Physiol. 77:2761-2766, 1994.

3. O'Hagan, K.P., R.S. Anderson, L.B. Bell, S.W. Mittelstadt, and P.S. Clifford. Phenylbiguanide does not inhibit locomotion in conscious rabbits. J. Appl. Physiol. 79:1346-1350, 1995. 

4. Mittelstadt, S.W., L.B. Bell, K.P. O'Hagan, J.E. Sulentic, and P.S. Clifford. Muscle chemoreflex causes renal vascular constriction. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 270: H951-H956, 1996.

5. Mittelstadt, S.W., A.E. Maynard, D.R. Benn, E.R. Lowe, and D.R. Kostreva. Effects of azimilide and d,l-sotalol on the heart rate and blood pressure response to isoproterenol in anesthetized rats. Cardiovasc. Drugs Ther. 11: 591-598, 1997.

6. Hamlin, R.D., C.A. Cruze, S.W. Mittelstadt, A. Kijtawornrat, B.W. Keene, B.M. Roche, T. Nakayama, H. Nakayama, and D.M. Hamlin. Sensitivity and specificity of isolated perfused guinea pig heart to test for drug-induced lengthening of QTc. J. Pharmacol. Toxicol. Methods 49: 15-23, 2004.