The American Physiological Society announces
the results of the election of officers for 2006.
Hannah V. Carey, University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the new
President-Elect.
The three newly elected Councillors taking office on April 5, 2006 are James
W. Hicks, University of California, Irvine; Dee U. Silverthorn, University
of Texas, Austin; and Michael J. Wyss, Washington University, St. Louis, MO.
The Councillors will serve for three years.
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Ken Baldwin |
Effective June 1, 2005, Ken Baldwin
succeeded Sue Barman as the chair of the Section Advisory committee (SAC) of
the APS. Prior to assuming this role Baldwin served on the Animal Welfare
Committee from 1990-1993, was the APS representative to the FASEB Consensus
Coalition on Federal Funding of Biomedical Research in which he chaired the
Subcommittee on NASA from 1997–2000. This service was followed by his
serving as chair of the Environmental and Exercise Physiology (EEP) section.
He also served on the program committees for each of APS sponsored Biology
of Exercise Specialty Conferences.
Baldwin is currently Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, School of
Medicine at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) where he has been
located for the past 33 years. He did his undergraduate work at Springfield
College in Massachusetts where he received his Bachelor of Science degree,
Magna Cum Laude, in 1964. Following completion of the Master of Science
degree in Biomechanics and Physical Education at the University of
Massachusetts, Baldwin served briefly as an Instructor of Physical Education
at Keen State University in New Hampshire and at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. He then began studies in Exercise Physiology at the
University of Iowa, where he received his PhD in 1970 under the mentorship
of Dr. CM Tipton. From 1970-73, Baldwin served as a postdoctoral fellow in
the field of exercise biochemistry at Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis under the direction of Dr. John O. Holloszy. Baldwin’s
pre-doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on the adaptive properties of
different types of skeletal muscle in response to acute and chronic exercise
stress.
After joining the faculty at UCI, Baldwin became interested in the effects
of the microgravity environment on the structure and function of antigravity
skeletal muscle. Although he initially received a grant from NASA in 1980 to
study the effects of spaceflight on muscle mitochondrial function, it took
him 11 years before completing this initial project, because of the lack of
available flight opportunities during the initial stages of NASA’s space lab
program (hardly a good model in which to receive tenure in a research
university). However, in the last decade he has had four flight
opportunities in which to explore the effects of gravity on the mechanisms
of a) atrophy processes in adult animals and b) muscle growth and
differentiation processes in neonatal models. These studies laid the ground
work for our current understanding that sarcomeric gene expression in
antigravity skeletal muscle is highly regulated by the daily impact of
gravity.
In addition to his space biology research, Baldwin has been funded
continuously for over 25 years by both the National Institute of Heart,
Lung, and Blood Diseases and the National Institute of Arthritis,
Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). This research has focused on
interactive studies concerning hormonal and of activity/inactivity factors
in the regulation of striated muscle myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene
expression. Baldwin and his research group are currently focused on the
transcriptional regulation of the MHC gene family of motor proteins and have
published extensively on this general theme in both the American Journal
of Physiology and the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Based on his expertise in muscle biology, Baldwin has served key roles in
the program activities and advisory councils of both the NIH and NASA. From
1987-1991 he served on the NIH Respiratory and Applied Physiology Study
section, and he recently was appointed as a founding member and then chair
of the recently formed Skeletal Muscle and Exercise Physiology (SMEP) Study
Section. Also, he has served on several strategic planning workshops and
Task Forces for NIAMS. Also, he served on the jointly sponsored NIH/NASA
Biomedical and Behavioral Advisory Committee, which fosters joint research
activities between the two agencies.
Within NASA, Baldwin chaired the Life Sciences Advisory Committee from
1994-2000; and completed service as chair of the Biological and Physical
Research Advisory Committee (1999-2004). More recently, he was appointed to
the NASA Advisory Council, which is the highest ranking advisory group
within the space agency. In 2000, he was appointed as the Muscle Atrophy
Team Leader for overseeing countermeasure-related research within the NASA
sponsored National Space Biomedical Research Institute. Based on his
research and advisory committee service to NASA he was awarded NASA Public
Service Medals in both 1999 and 2005.
Over the years Baldwin has received several awards for his service and
research activities including the NASA Group Achievement Award in Spacelab
Sciences in 1992, the American College of Sports Medicine Citation Award in
1993, the APS Edward Adolph Award in Exercise and Environmental Physiology
in 1998, and the APS EEP Honor Award in 2006.
Since becoming the Chair of the SAC, Baldwin has become an active
participant of the APS Council (ex-officio) and participated in a long-range
strategic planning retreat which took place in October 2005. As part of
implementing many of the outcomes of this important event, Baldwin’s goal is
to establish better intra- and inter-sectional cohesiveness and synergy
among the various sections that serve as the underpinning of the APS.
Baldwin is eager to infuse the next generation of leaders within the
sections as well as to encourage greater international participation within
the workings of the Society given the strong international component of the
membership. Baldwin is also looking for avenues to providing more
opportunities for oral presentations, especially by young gifted scholars,
among the EB meeting program activities. Given the long history of
successful APS sponsored specialty conferences, a major goal during
Baldwin’s tenure as SAC chair is to somehow revive this history by
encouraging collaborative projects and formal meetings among those sections
that have natural scientific affinities with one another given the reality
that in order for the APS to thrive in the future its membership must find
more common ground in working with one another in both the social and
intellectual settings of research integration.
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Angela Grippo |
On January 1, 2006, Angela Grippo
succeeded Caroline Sussman as Chair of the Trainee Advisory Committee (TAC).
Grippo has served as a TAC member since 2003, as the representative for the
Neural Control and Autonomic Regulation section. Grippo also served as the
Trainee Member of the Neural Control of Autonomic Regulation Steering
Committee from 2002-2006. She is currently an ex-officio member of the
Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee.
Grippo is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and
Brain-Body Center at University of Illinois at Chicago. She graduated summa
cum laude from Drake University (Des Moines, IA) with a BS in Psychology in
1998. She was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) fellowship
during her graduate studies at The University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA) in the
laboratory of Alan Kim Johnson, and received a PhD in Psychology in 2003.
Grippo then completed a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at Loyola
University Medical Center (Maywood, IL) in the laboratory of Louis Van de
Kar. She has been a NIH-sponsored postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of
Sue Carter and Stephen Porges at the University of Illinois at Chicago since
2004.
Grippo’s research is focused on mechanisms underlying psychological
disorders and cardiovascular regulation, with a primary emphasis on the
association of mood disorders and heart disease. Grippo uses an integrated
approach involving behavioral, physiological, and neural techniques to
understand the mechanisms involved in the link between psychology and
physiology. Her current studies are investigating the role of autonomic and
neuroendocrine processes in depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular
regulation.
The TAC was created in 2003 as an effort to increase the participation of
early-career scientists in APS. The Committee is charged with investigating
the needs of early-career scientists and creating programs to support these
members of APS. The TAC also advises Council on issues relating to the needs
of the early-career members in APS. During the next few years, the TAC will
focus on enhancing its relations with other APS committees by collaborating
on projects, creating trainee-relevant topics for presentation at scientific
meetings, and encouraging several APS committees to include trainee members.
Additionally, the TAC will soon launch a new website that focuses on issues
specifically relevant to early-career scientists. The Committee plans to
continue its distribution of a trainee-specific newsletter, and will
continue to present trainee-relevant topics at the Experi-mental Biology
meeting. The TAC will also strive to continually improve the environment for
trainees by encouraging participation of trainees in APS activities,
developing programs and disseminating literature regarding career
enhancement and practical issues relevant to trainees, and collaborating
with national organizations that are also invested in trainee advancement.
These activities will enhance the development of early-career members of APS
and will ensure a successful future for the society and its members. |
The Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology (FASEB) is pleased to admit the American College of
Sports Medicine (ACSM) into the Federation. In reference to this event,
FASEB President Bruce Bistrian, said, “It is an honor to welcome the
committed health and fitness scientists of ACSM to FASEB.” The FASEB Board
voted on December 9, 2005, to accept ACSM as a member society in the
coalition.
“Linking ACSM’s mission and resources with those of FASEB means several
things,” said Carl Foster, ACSM President and a Fellow of the College. “This
partnership opens the door for a wealth of programs that will benefit both
organizations and the public we serve. We look forward to a fertile exchange
through meetings, conferences, workshops, and informal, one-on-one contact.”
ACSM was founded in 1954 and has more than 20,000 active members. It is the
largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world.
Members of ACSM aim to increase public awareness and education about the
positive aspects of physical activity for people of all ages from all walks
of life.
FASEB is composed of 22 societies with more than 80,000 members, making it
the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United
States. FASEB’s mission is to enhance the ability of biomedical and life
scientists to improve-through their research-the health, well-being and
productivity of all people. FASEB serves the interests of these scientists
in those areas related to public policy, facilitates coalition activities
among Member Societies and disseminates information on biological research
through scientific conferences and publications. |
