On April 29, 2007 at approximately 11:45am in the
Convention Hotel for the APS, approximately 20 individuals gathered for the
annual HPG Business meeting and luncheon. At approximately 12:20pm,
Chairman Charles Tipton called the meeting of the HPG to order. Tipton
welcomed the attendees and introduced the HPG Steering Committee, which
included, in addition to himself, Drs. Sue Schneider, Kathy Ryan and Jay
Dean. Tipton updated the group on the Living History project, the goal of
which is to capture a living archival record of eminent APS members during
their latter years. Currently, 3-4 videos are available online at APS.
Attendees were encouraged to identify and pursue additional interviewees.
In the interest of documenting the lives and contributions of important
physiologists, it was also noted that the EEP Section of the APS planned to
publish the biography of the eminent environmental physiologist, Dr. G.
Edgar Folk, in Advances in Physiology. In addition, the History of
Physiology Lecture for EB 2008 was anticipated to be approved in July 2007.
Sue Schneider indicated that the Special Topic at EB2008 was the History of
Exercise.
Dr. John West reported on the 2007 APS History of
Publications Committee meeting, stating that the book entitled A Life of
Ernest Starling, by John Henderson, was published last year as another
installment of the APS� People and Ideas Series. Another book was due to be
published soon on the life and career of the pioneering German high altitude
physiologist, Nathan Zuntz (1847-1920), which has been written by Hanns-Christian
Gunga. Two additional projects that had been identified, but were still in
the early stages of preparation, were books on the contributions of American
physiologists to aviation medicine during World War II (Jay Dean) and the
history of temperature regulation (Clarke Blatteis and Jack Boulant).
Additionally, a book was being planned on the History of Physiology during
the past 50 years (Stanley Schultz). Dr. West pointed out that currently
there was not a good vehicle for publishing history of physiology articles.
Chairman Tipton submitted the document entitled
Proposed Code of Organization and Procedures for the History of Physiology
Group (Articles I-VI) and asked that any suggestions for revision be
sent to him in the subsequent months.
Kathy Ryan introduced the luncheon speaker, Dr. Tom
Walters (U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, Fort Sam Houston, TX),
who gave a wonderful presentation on A Physiologist�s Perspective on
Stopping Bleeding on the Battlefield: Everything Old is New Again. Dr.
Walters is to be applauded for his efforts on our behalf; on the preceding
evening, his PowerPoint presentation was �eaten� by his computer and had to
be reconstructed from scratch! His hard work was greatly appreciated.
After his presentation, Tipton presented him the History of Physiology Group
Recognition Award. The business meeting was adjourned at 1:25pm.