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The Association of Chairs of Departments of
Physiology (ACDP) held its annual meeting in Curaçao on December 4-6, 2008.
President Nicola C. Partridge (UMDNJ-RW Johnson Medical School) developed a
program based on current cutting-edge research presentations and issues
dealing with the independence of departments.
The second Arthur Guyton Lectureship was given by Eric Olson (Univ. of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center) on “Micro RNA, Heart Development and Disease.”
Other research presentations were given by Jianjie Ma (UMDNJ-RW Johnson
Medical School) on “Calcium Signaling and Membrane Repair,” and new chair
Zofia Zukowska (George Washington Univ.) on “Stress, Fat and Neuropeptide
Y.”
The pros and cons for centers vs. departments were presented by Charles
Moldow (administrative centers), Vice Dean at the University of Minnesota
(in place of Dean Deborah Powell) and Muthu Periasamy (Ohio State Univ.) on
research centers.
In addition, Olaf Sparre Andersen, who is serving on the NBME’s
Comprehensive Review of the USMLE Task Force (Weill Cornell Medical
College) gave an update on the ongoing revision process for the US Medical
Licensure Exams (USMLE) and the implications for MD and MD/PhD training by
physiology departments. Howard H. Garrison, Deputy Executive Director of
Public Affairs for FASEB, gave an update on the recent US election and what
that could mean for science in general and biomedical research funding in
particular.
Officer elections were held with the following results. R. Clinton Webb
(Medical College of Georgia) was elected President-elect, Nicholas A.
Delamere (Univ. of Arizona School of Medicine) and Marshall H. Montrose
(Univ. of Cincinnati College of Medicine) were elected to three-year terms
as Councilor, and L. Gabriel Navar (Tulane Univ. School of Medicine) was
re-elected to another three-year term as Council of Academic Sciences
representative. William S. Spielman (Michigan State Univ.) was thanked for
his service as Past President, as were Susan L. Hamilton (Baylor College of
Medicine) and R. Clinton Webb for their service as Councilors.
President-elect Meredith Bond (Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine)
announced that the 2009 ACDP annual fall meeting will be held in Tucson, AZ,
on December 3-5, 2009.
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| Eric Olson, 2nd Guyton Lecturer congratulated
by Nicola Partridge, ACDP President. |
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Banquet setting. |
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ACDP President Nicola
Partridge presents Irving Zucker with the Distinguished Service
Award. |
Nicola C. Partridge, President of the Association of
Chairs of Departments of Physiology (ACDP), presented the ACDP’s highest
award, the Distinguished Service Award, to Irving H. Zucker, Univ. of
Nebraska Medical Center during the organization’s 2008 fall meeting in
Curaçao.
Zucker was selected to receive the ACDP Distinguished Service Award for his
long and illustrious service to ACDP, to science, and to physiology.
Zucker was born in New York City. He graduated from City College of New York
in 1965, received his Masters Degree in 1967 from the Univ. of Missouri at
Kansas City, and his PhD from New York Medical College in 1972. He did a
postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the
Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center before being hired as an Assistant
Professor in that department.
Zucker moved through the ranks in the department and in 1989 was named Chair
of the department. He now holds the Theodore F. Hubbard Chair of
Cardiovascular Research in the Department of Cellular and Integrative
Physiology.
The research in Zucker’s laboratory focuses on the role of central brain
mechanisms on neurohormonal adjustments in cardiovascular regulation in the
setting of experimental chronic heart failure. He is interested in the role
of substances such as angiotensin II, nitric oxide and reactive oxidant
stress as important mediators of sympathetic excitation in the setting of
chronic heart failure. Molecular, cellular and whole animal techniques are
used to understand abnormal cardiovascular and neural regulation in heart
failure. In addition, he is extremely interested in the role of exercise
training in ameliorating some of the abnormalities he has found in the
central nervous system of animals with heart failure.
As an ACDP member, Zucker served as Councilor in 2001 before being elected
President-elect in 2002 and served as President in 2003. He was also very
active in APS, serving as a member and then Chair of the Public Affairs
Committee, as a Councillor from 2004-2007, and then was elected
President-elect in 2007. He is currently serving as President of APS this
year.
In addition to serving other associations, Zucker has had numerous roles in
the American Heart Association, including serving on the Communication
Committee, National Research Committee, and Executive Committee, culminating
with his being elected Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2001.
Locally, Zucker was the founder of the Nebraska Physiological Society. He
served as the first President (1998-2000) of the Nebraska Physiological
Society. Internationally, he has been a member of the International
Scientific Advisory Board of the International Academy of Cardiology since
1997.
Zucker has served and continues to serve on many editorial boards, including
American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative
Physiology (since 1986) and Heart and Circulatory Physiology
(since 1998), Circulation Research (since 1992), Hypertension
(since 2003), among others.
Recent recognitions for Zucker, in addition to the Distinguished Service
Award, include receiving the Wiggers Award from the APS Cardiovascular
Section and being named Science Laureate by the University of Nebraska
Medical Center, all in 2008.
Because of his scientific endeavors, his dedicated service to the field of
cardiovascular physiology and physiology as a whole, and his distinguished
service to APS and ACDP, the ACDP was proud to present its 2008
Distinguished Service Award to Irving Zucker.
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