APS News

Introducing Gregory L. Florant

Gregory L. Florant

On January 1, 2005, Gregory L. Florant succeeded Pamela J. Gunter-Smith as Co-Chair of the Porter Physiology Development Committee. Florant has been a member of APS since 1979 and a member of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences since 1986. He has served on several APS committees and received an APS travel award in 1980. Florant has served as a reviewer for the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative section and is currently an associate editor for the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

Florant is a Professor in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO and also has a research affiliation with the Center for Human Nutrition (CNRU) at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. He received his bachelor’s degree in physiology from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and then went on to do his PhD at Stanford University (1973-1978) under the direction of H. Craig Heller. He did a NIH postdoctoral Fellowship with Elliot Weitzman (1978-1980) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montifore Hospital and Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. His first academic position was an assistant professorship in the Biology Department at Swarthmore College where he was promoted to associate professor (1980-1990). In 1990, he moved as a full professor to the Biology Department at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and remained there until 1995 at which time he moved to Colorado State as a full professor.

Florant was a Ford Foundation Fellow as a graduate student at Stanford University, and during his time at Swarthmore College, selected as one of six outstanding young investigators in Physiology by the Philadelphia Physiological Society. He received a DAAD Fellowship (1986-1987) to be a visiting scientist at the University of Marburg, Germany, and he has twice been the recipient of Fulbright Research Fellowships (1983-1984; 2000-2001). He was elected an AAAS Fellow in 1989.

Florant’s research focuses on the mechanisms that animals use to regulate energy stores under various environmental conditions. Specifically, his research has centered on using mammals that hibernate to investigate obesity, fat metabolism, and insulin regulation of energy stores. Florant’s laboratory studies mammals that hibernate (e.g., marmots: genus Marmota and ground squirrels) and undergo a doubling of body mass in the form of fat. This weight gain is associated with a profound hyperinsulinemia, and marmots display all of the characteristics of peripheral insulin resistance. Before this insulin resistance develops into frank diabetes, however, the animals begin hibernation, where they have a suppressed appetite and rely almost exclusively on fat stores for energy. During this period, insulin resistance is apparently reversed, as the circulating insulin levels return to normal. None of the insulin signal transduction pathways have been evaluated during the astonishing period of weight gain, nor have they been investigated during the animal’s subsequent conversion into this lipolytic state. Research in Florant’s laboratory is aimed at characterizing the effect of this rapid weight gain on insulin’s ability to activate known signaling intermediates. Studies could uncover important information about the molecular events associated with the development of insulin resistance. Moreover, by correlating the concentration of fat-derived circulating factors (e.g., free fatty acids, leptin, diponectin, and resistin) with the degree of insulin resistance, the research might uncover novel information about the contribution of these factors to the pathogenesis of type II diabetes mellitus and obesity. Ultimately, the exaggerated characteristics of hibernators could assist us in the identification of abnormalities relevant to the human condition.
Florant’s duties as Chair of the Porter Development committee include: 

• supervising the administration of the Porter Physiology Development funds, including soliciting applications for the Porter Physiology Development Fellowship Awards and overseeing the review and selection of Porter Fellows.
• supervising the selection of NIDDK minority travel fellows. 
• providing annual written reports to Council and the William Townsend Porter Foundation and soliciting outside funds for support of the program. 

Over the next several years, the committee hopes to review and update its charge, increase the number of minority scientists entering academia, develop a mentorship program with senior faculty and researchers, and provide a network for fellows to communicate among themselves and younger beginning minority scientists. The committee will also work with other APS committees to increase the participation of minority and female physiologists within the APS. 

Introducing Lisa M. Harrison-Bernard

Lisa M. Harrison-Bernard

The Council of the APS accepted the recommendation of the Committee on Committees to appoint Lisa M. Harrison-Bernard to serve as Chair of the Membership Committee for a three-year term from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2007. Harrison-Bernard succeeds Rauof A. Khalil in this position. Prior to becoming Chair, Harrison-Bernard was a member of the Membership Committee for two-years (2003-2004) and recently completed a three-year term as a member of the Women in Physiology Committee (1999-2001). She has been an active member of the APS since 1988, first joining as a graduate student. She serves as a member of the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology (2000-Present) and Hypertension (2004-Present). She has participated as a mentor for the APS NIDDK Minority Travel Fellowship since 2000.
Harrison-Bernard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in New Orleans, LA and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA. She received her doctoral degree in Physiology from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA in 1990 and continued with four years of postdoctoral training under the direction of Pamela K. Carmines and L. Gabriel Navar. She was appointed as an Instructor in the same department in 1994, and then as an Assistant Professor (1996) and Associate Professor (2003). She joined the Physiology department at LSUHSC in New Orleans on January 1, 2004. She has had continuous research funding as a principal investigator since 1991 from the National Kidney Foundation, NIH-NIDDK Individual National Research Service Award, Louisiana American Heart Association, National American Heart Association Scientific Development Grant and is currently funded by the NIH-NIDDK through an RO1 entitled “AT1 Receptors in Renal Microvascular Physiology.”

Harrison-Bernard’s integrative approach to the study of physiology encompasses assessment of whole animal cardiovascular and renal hemodynamics, direct assessment of renal microvascular function, and identification and regulation of multiple components of the renal renin-angiotensin system in a variety of hypertensive rat and transgenic mouse models. Her research over the past several years has focused on 1) assessment of the functional and molecular mechanisms linking the physiology of hypertension with the altered renal expression of critical components of the renin-angiotensin and kallikrein-kinin systems, and 2) direct assessment of vasoconstrictor and vasodilator control mechanisms on the pre- and post-glomerular renal microvasculature. Highlights of this work include the demonstration that the angiotensin type one (AT1) receptor is widely distributed throughout the vascular and tubular structures of the kidney, postovariectomy hypertension and diabetes are linked to increased renal AT1 receptor protein expression, glomerular AT1 receptor expression is downregulated while proximal tubule receptor is unaltered in angiotensin II-dependent hypertension, and functional evidence for angiotensin II responses on afferent arterioles of the mouse being mediated by both AT1A and AT1B receptor subtypes, while efferent arteriole responses are mediated only by the AT1A receptor subtype.

She has published 38 scientific papers and reviews in journals such as the American Journal of Physiology, Hypertension, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Kidney International, Physiological Genomics, and Physiological Reviews. Memberships are held in the American Heart Association Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease, American Physiological Society, American Society of Nephrology, Fellow of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, International Society of Nephrology, and Women in Nephrology professional societies. She is a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) and of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN). She received the 2004 American Society of Hypertension Young Scholars Award and presented a lecture entitled “Angiotensin II in the Regulation of the Renal Microvasculature: Lessons from Genetic Mouse Models” at the past American Society of Hypertension Annual Meeting. She currently serves on the American Heart Association Council on the Kidney and Cardiovascular Disease and Women in Nephrology Programming Committees.

As Chair of the Membership Committee, Harrison-Bernard will oversee the review of applications by the Membership Services Department for regular membership. Her goal is for the committee to identify innovative strategies to recruit new members to the Society and to retain regular members, with special emphasis on assuring that student members become regular members after obtaining their professional degree. The Membership Committee is also working toward increasing the visibility of APS members, which now total approximately 10,000, at the Experimental Biology meetings. The Membership Committee would be grateful for the efforts of all of our members in sponsoring and recruiting new members to the Society. 

Introducing Kim E. Barrett

Kim E. Barrett

On January 1, 2005, Kim E. Barrett succeeded Dale Benos as Chair of the Publications Committee, a position appointed by the APS leadership. Although she has not served previously on the Publications Committee, Barrett has had a long-standing interest and involvement in the Society’s publications program. She was editor of AJP-Cell Physiology from 1996-2002, and remains a member of the editorial board of that journal, as well as of AJP-GI and Liver Physiology, and was able to keep abreast of publications matters during a recent three-year term as a member of the APS Council (2001-2004). She also now returns to Council as an ex officio member.

Barrett is a proud native of London, England, and received her undergraduate and graduate training there, receiving her PhD in Biological Chemistry from University College London in 1982. Her thesis work, under the supervision of Fred Pearce, elucidated aspects of the functional heterogeneity of mast cells from different organs and tissues, yielding information that was relevant to the understanding and treatment of allergic diseases. Wanting to broaden her horizons before settling into a permanent position in the UK, she came to the US for postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dean Metcalfe at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. However, despite her original plan to head home, she was seduced by an offer to join the laboratory of the late Kiertisin Dharmsathaphorn at the University of California, San Diego, and has been in sunny California ever since. Appointed initially as an Assistant Research Physiologist, she has risen steadily through the ranks to attain her current position of Professor of Medicine in 1996. In 1999, she was also appointed as Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine, and she has held a variety of additional leadership roles in the School of Medicine and in the university as a whole.

Barrett’s current research program focuses on the physiology and pathophysiology of the intestinal epithelium, particularly with respect to its ability to transport water and electrolytes, and to serve as an interface between external factors and the host immune system. She has mapped signaling pathways that regulate epithelial chloride secretion, both positively and negatively, focusing in recent years on the central role played by the epidermal growth factor receptor in this process. Another area of interest is in understanding the pathophysiological correlates of infection of the intestinal epithelium with invasive bacteria, studies that may help improve treatments for infectious diarrhea. In a related vein, Barrett’s group is identifying mechanisms that may underpin the ability of so-called probiotic bacteria to exert beneficial effects in a variety of intestinal diseases. Finally, she is studying how defects in intestinal barrier function may promote bowel inflammation and, thus, lead to diseases such as ulcerative colitis, as well as the role of sex steroids in mediating gender differences in the severity of intestinal injury. Barrett’s research program has been funded continuously by the NIH, and she has also enjoyed support from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

The Publications Committee is charged with oversight of all aspects of the Society’s publication program. The committee reviews journal progress, selects new editors for each of the Society’s journals, resolves ethical issues that arise during the editorial process, and recommends overall strategies for the Society’s publishing ventures to the APS Council. Given the central role played by the vitality of the publications program in the financial situation of the APS, the committee’s charge is pivotally important to the well-being of the APS as a whole. Barrett also takes the helm of the Publications Committee at a particularly challenging time, as society publishers such as the APS are being forced to evolve new models for journal financing given outside efforts to promote “open access” and “author pays” modes of publication. The APS has been at the forefront of national efforts to underscore the value added to scientific publications by scholarly societies, particularly through the leadership of APS Executive Director Martin Frank and Director of Publications Margaret Reich. Barrett looks forward to working for this cause along with the Publications Committee and getting the message out to colleagues about the real costs of sustaining a first class publications program that publishes truly innovative physiological science.
Barrett’s goals in her new position are to sustain the enviable position and reputation of the Society’s publications programs, to establish a dialogue with key stakeholders (editors, authors and readers) as to what can be done to further enhance the visibility and prestige of physiology as a discipline (particularly as embodied in research published in the APS journals) and to serve as a resource for editors and their staff. She also hopes to provide considered input to the APS Council on behalf of the committee as the Society leadership develops a new strategic plan that will guide APS programs in the next five to 10 years. Finally, she would like to continue outreach to more junior members of the APS by providing them with the tools and insights they need to become successful authors and reviewers for APS journals. She is eager to hear from the membership as to how the publications program can better serve them, and invites them to contact her with their thoughts. 

Introducing Patricia Molina

Patricia Molina

On January 1, 2005, Patricia Molina succeeded Hector Rasgado-Flores as chair of the International Committee of the APS. Molina is Professor of Physiology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA. Molina received her BS in Biology and MD degrees in Guatemala from the Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Following completion of her medical training, Molina joined the graduate program in Physiology at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, transferring after completing her first year of coursework to the Department of Physiology at LSU in the summer of 1987. Molina received her PhD degree in Physiology in 1990 from LSU under the combined mentorship of John J. Spitzer, Charles H. Lang and Gregory J. Bagby. Her research focused on the impact of acute alcohol intoxication on carbohydrate metabolism, particularly in response to lipopolysaccharide challenge. From 1990 to 1992 Molina was a research instructor in Naji N. Abumrad’s laboratory in the Division of Surgical Research at Vanderbilt University. Her work expanded into the field of protein metabolism and its regulation during stress. Molina joined the faculty of the Department of Surgery at the State University of New York, Stony Brook in 1992 where she progressed from assistant professor to associate professor and established her research interest in neuroendocrine modulation of counter-regulatory responses to traumatic injury. After a short tenure at North Shore University Hospital and Brookhaven National Laboratory, she returned to New Orleans to join the faculty of the Department of Physiology in 1999. She was promoted to professor in 2004.

Current research in her laboratory is focused on neural control of hemorrhage-induced tissue cytokine production and how acute alcohol intoxication impacts on the hemodynamic and inflammatory responses to shock. In addition, since returning to LSUHSC, Molina has interacted with scientists at the Alcohol Research Center and developed research interests on the impact of chronic alcohol intake on the course and progression of AIDS-associated muscle wasting. Joining the faculty at LSUHSC has allowed Molina to contribute to the teaching of physiology to medical and graduate students, particularly the area of endocrine physiology. Her teaching interests in this area led to the publication in 2003 of Endocrine Physiology, a McGraw-Hill Lange series monograph that follows the learning objectives of the APS and is directed at medical students and residents. In parallel to Molina’s growth in her academic career, she has actively participated in several APS-related activities, most notable as Councillor for the Endocrine section and as member of the International subcommittee of APS. As part of her interest in developing and fostering scientific interactions with Latin American countries, Molina was successful in organizing and conducting a two day meeting in Guatemala in November 2003 entitled: “Advances in Physiology; Impact on our Understanding of Health and Disease.” The success of the meeting relied on the active participation of APS members from LSUHSC in New Orleans and Shreveport, as well as Tulane Physiology Departments and on the enthusiastic support received from the Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Francisco Marroquin. This activity, funded through the Latin American Initiative of the APS, was a clear, demonstrable, example of the powerful impact that APS researchers and teachers can have in bringing physiological sciences closer to the Latin American students, teachers, and researchers. 

The International Physiology Committee is responsible for establishing communication and facilitating interchange between the APS, other physiological societies, and their individual members (maintaining and strengthening relations with IUPS). Among its functions are to encourage the formation of international interest groups to promote scientific interactions in particular geographic areas. To maximize success, the Latin American geographical area was selected as the focused target for most of the activities under the International committee. In this effort, the committee seeks to develop mechanisms for promoting interactions and exchanges of APS members and Latin American scientists. One of the approaches that has shown success is the organized symposia and/or workshops bringing high caliber scientists to Latin America with the goal of fostering their interest in the physiological sciences. Current political stability in several Latin American countries has brought forth a renewed interest in the growth and development of the academic capacity of students and faculty throughout the region. The pursuit of knowledge and establishment of collaborative agreements, as well as the advantages of improved communications systems with the availability of on line journals and constant access to information, has allowed science to enter regions previously isolated from scientific progress. Several newly instituted medical schools and research institutes are now searching for the appropriate ties and collaborative agreements that will allow them to move their initiatives forward. From curriculum revisions, to implementation of experimental laboratories, now more than ever the expertise of APS members is widely sought and needed by these developing countries. Members of APS serve as bridges for several Latin American initiatives with the scientific community here in the United States, as well as in the European and Asian continent. During the tenure of Rasgado-Flores as chair of this committee, much progress was made towards bringing physiologists in Latin America closer to members of APS. The innovative approach of the committee culminated in funding of Latin American attendees to the upcoming IUPS with the goal of using the opportunity to build stronger relations with our neighboring scientists. My goal is to stimulate creative and innovative thinking among the committee members to encourage greater participation both by members of APS and Latin American colleagues to ensure full appreciation and utilization of resources and opportunities to strengthen the physiological sciences throughout the region. 

Introducing Chahrzad Montrose-Rafizadeh

On January 1, 2005, Chahrzad Montrose-Rafizadeh succeeded Glenn Reinhardt as Chair of Liaison With Industry Committee (LWIC). Prior to becoming Chair, Chahrzad Montrose was a LWIC Committee member for the last three years representing the Cellular and Molecular Physiology Section. Chahrzad Montrose has organized and chaired numerous symposiums sponsored by LWIC over the last two years. 
Chahrzad is a Research Advisor at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, IN. She received her doctoral degree in 1988 from University of Lausanne, at the Institute of Pharmacology, Lausanne, Switzerland, where she studied mechanisms of organic cation transporters function across kidney tubules. She then completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation at John Hopkins University, where she studied the molecular biology and function of ion channels involved in kidney disease and in cystic fibrosis. In 1991, she joined the Diabetes Section of National Institute on Aging in Baltimore as Senior Staff focusing on molecular mechanisms of glucose homeostasis. At NIH, she has played a pioneering role in the understanding of Glucagon-Like Peptide–1 mechanisms of action in pancreas. She moved to Eli Lilly and Company in 1998, working on nuclear hormone regulation of genes. At Lilly, she has contributed to drug discovery research in the field of Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular and Osteoporosis. Her current research interest is in the development of nuclear hormone receptor modulators for a number of therapeutic indications. She has led the effort to improve the quality of hits, leads, and clinical candidates by formulating assay development and validation guidelines. These guidelines are currently being incorporated in an NIH Roadmap of Molecular Libraries Initiative for National Human Genome Research Institute.

LWIC is committed to continue enhancing interactions between Industry scientists and APS, raising the profile and participation of Industry scientists to APS as new members and/or as new APS committee members. LWIC is poised to bring further understanding of innovation in science conducted in Industry by sponsoring symposiums at EB meetings and fostering scientific presentations by scientists from industry and academia. Another goal for the LWIC committee is to enhance the understanding of drug discovery and drug development processes by Industry, educating interested academic scientists on the processes used in drug discovery, from the basic science of target identification and validation through various mechanisms including high content biology/system biology, through the use of quantitative biology, in vivo pharmacology, and clinical physiology to discover and validate leads. To this end, LWIC would like to partner with the Education committee to plan these educational sessions at the EB meetings. Similarly, LWIC has a goal of interacting closely with the Career committee to solve common issues around defining and advancing careers in physiology. This includes helping students in the physiological sciences understand the potential of developing a career in science in the industrial sector. By partnering with the Career committee, LWIC would like to bring forward these educational sessions. LWIC will hope to be a voice for APS in the industrial sector, and will seek avenues to bring a better understanding to the scientists in industry of the APS’s goals and roles in physiological sciences and education.