Seven senior physiologists (Charles Tipton, Harvey Sparks, Julio Cruz, Ronald Freeman, Virendra Mahesh, Vernon Bishop, and Beverly Bishop) comprise the Senior Physiology Committee. One of the primary duties of each Committee member is to develop and maintain liaison with emeritus members and members about to retire. This liaison is accomplished by submitting, on behalf of the Society, a personal 70th, 80th, 90th, or 100th birthday greeting. Thus, each committee member makes about three dozen mailings in the course of the year. Each greeting includes an invitation for the senior recipient to inform APS about his current activities, interests and whereabouts, and requests words of wisdom for younger colleagues. The historical and philosophical commentaries evoked by this invitation provide the material subsequently published in Senior Physiologist's News in each The Physiologist. By the end of this year the Senior Physiologist Committee members will have sent birthday wishes to 84 members reaching age 70, to 90 members reaching age 80, to 29 members reaching age 90, and to five members reaching the age of 100! From these greetings, 28 response letters have been received and published in The Physiologist. Responses from recipients of these birthday greetings are extremely positive and enthusiastic. Whether retired or still working in their labs, the majority of seniors obviously retain their passion for science. They express in innumerable ways how fulfilling they have found life and how important APS has been during their careers.
Another responsibility of the Senior Physiologists Committee is to review applications and recommend to Council the annual awardees of the $500 G. Edgar Folk, Jr., Senior Physiologists Award. This award is designed to support the scientific activities of a senior member. Unfortunately, the Committee received no applications in 2007.
More recently the Senior Committee has been charged to be alert to senior physiologists who have written autobiographic or historic accounts of interest to physiologists. This activity is in concert with the recently stated goals of the APS Living History of Physiology.