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Who is Michael Romero?

Michael Romero was born in Atlanta, Georgia on October 15, 1963. I have always been interested in “how” things work and are put together. I don’t remember when I was not interested in science. As a child in Georgia, my favorite things were exploring the nearby woods with my friends, pretending to be a superhero, and playing with my chemistry set in the basement. Even before I started school, I knew that when I grew up I would be wearing a lab coat and “running around” a “lab.” This was weird, because no one in my family had been to college or even worked with a lab or a doctor’s office. My family always encouraged me to be the best I could at whatever I did.

After a several years apart, my parents got back together when my father took over as the Chief Controller at the Cincinnati Airport just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. I was sad to leave my friends, my school, my soccer team, my scout troop, the South, and the only home I had known. We moved to Northern Kentucky, and I was told I would attend an all boys, Catholic high school. My first day at school, I wore my white jeans and matching vest, as any “good” Southern boy might do. What a shock I got! I and my clothes stood out. My new high school did not offer many science classes, but we had lots of history, English literature, Latin, German, and public speaking. I joined the Debate team (we won 3^rd in the State competition) and found a love of public speaking. My hard work paid off when I was awarded several academic scholarships as well as an acting scholarship to college. At graduation (age 16) I was also given the Oratory Award.

Over that Christmas I saw an ad for a program in Developmental Genetics and Anatomy at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A friend of mine from high school and college was currently a student in the program and loved it. So I decided to apply there and got in. After four years at Thomas More College, I graduated with degrees in Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

Initially I could not work in one of the labs I wanted, so I decided to work with someone else at first who was doing research on the intestine and kidney. That was where I found my love and talent was physiology, not development. In 1991 I got my PhD.

This was an exciting time in physiology because other labs were using the “new” molecular biology methods in research. I knew that I needed additional training to learn how to do this. I went to Yale University. There I studied kidney and eye disease. Best of all I got to work in the lab as much as I wanted, sometimes with a white lab coat, and made lots of new friends in Connecticut, as well as in Boston where other people I worked with lived.

I teach medical, dental, and graduate students about the kidney and how it works. My first PhD student graduated in April 2001. We are having fun and always learning new aspects of physiology.

Michael Romero (left) and his lab

Part of being a physiologist means I get to work with other physiologists in APS. I help on the Education Committees and with the journals. I also work with groups who give money to physiologists doing research and help them decide what research should get that money.