As of July 1, 2010, Charles H. Lang is the new Editor-in-Chief for AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism. Charles H. Lang is currently a Distinguished University Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, and Professor of Surgery, at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) College of Medicine. Dr. Lang received his graduate training at Hahnemann Medical College, where he earned both an MS and a PhD degree (1978 and 1981, respectively). He was an NRSA-funded post-doctoral fellow under the supervision of John Spitzer, MD, in the Department of Physiology at the LSU Medical Center in New Orleans, LA. In 1985, he was appointed Assistant Professor and then, in 1989, promoted to tenured Associate Professor at the same institution. Thereafter, he moved to the Department of Surgery at SUNY Stony Brook as Professor of Surgery and Director of Surgical Research, where he coordinated the translational research efforts. For the past 12 years, he has been in his current position at the Penn State College of Medicine, in Hershey, PA. For 30 years his research has focused on changes in whole body and tissue metabolism produced by sepsis and other catabolic insults, such as diabetes, alcoholism, burn, and HIV infection. Specifically, his early work elucidated various cellular and molecular mechanisms by which sepsis and inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF, alter glucose homeostasis and produce hepatic and muscle insulin resistance. He has also provided extensive insights into the mechanisms altering the IGF-GH axis in infection and stress and the metabolic consequences of such changes. In addition, in recent years he has worked extensively on the regulation of translational control of protein synthesis in skeletal and cardiac muscle by growth factors, particularly IGF-I, and nutrients during various catabolic states. Dr. Lang has published more than 250 original peer-reviewed articles in addition to numerous review articles and book chapters related to the metabolic dysregulation accompanying infection and catabolic stress. He has also presented more than 50 invited lectures throughout the world. His research has been continuously supported by multiple grants from NIGMS, NIAAA, and NIDDK related to these areas for the past 25 years.
In addition to his research activities, Dr. Lang has been active in various types of educational activities. At the Penn State College of Medicine, he is currently the Program Director for the T32 post-doctoral training grant entitled "Training Program in Trauma and Organ Injury," housed in the Department of Surgery, which is intended to train surgical residents as independent physician-scientists. In addition, he is Director of the Molecular Medicine Intercollege Graduate Program at PSU. He has trained more than 30 junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, surgical residents, and medical and graduate students. In addition, for the past decade he has been a mentor to eight underrepresented minority undergraduate summer students who have performed research in his laboratory.
In addition to his service activities at the Penn State College of Medicine, he has been a permanent member of the Alcohol and Toxicology (ALTX) IV study section at NIH, and he is currently a member of the Surgery, Anesthesiology and Trauma (SAT) study section. He has served multiple times as an ad hoc member on the NIH Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs) for the review of training programs in Trauma and Burn, Systems and Integrative Biology, and Pharmacological Sciences. He has also chaired various SEPs related to alcohol, trauma, or muscle metabolism. Finally, he also currently reviews research and fellowship applications submitted to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Dr. Lang was a long-standing member of the Editorial Board for the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism and in 2006 was appointed an Associate Editor. During the past three years he also served the Journal as its Reviews Editor. He currently serves on the editorial boards of numerous other journals, including Shock, Journal of Nutrition, International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Medicine, and others. He is a member of more than ten professional societies. He has served in leadership roles in national scientific organizations, as exemplified by his tenure as the Chairman of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Section Program Committee and Steering Committee for APS as well as his participation on the Membership Committee and the Committee-on-Committees of APS. Dr. Lang is also a member of the Publication Management Committee of the American Society of Nutrition and the Publication Committee for the Shock Society.