Cardiovascular Pharmacology

BIOGRAPHY

EDUCATION:
- 1983-88 - B.S., Advanced Chemistry, The University of Illinois
- 1988-92 - Ph.D., Pharmacology & Toxicology, Indiana University
- 1992-95 - Postdoctoral Fellow, Physiology, The University of Michigan
- 1995-00 - Assistant Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Michigan State University
- 2000-05 - Associate Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Michigan State University
- 2005-present - Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Michigan State University
- 2008-present - Assistant Dean, The Graduate School, Michigan State University

EDITORIAL BOARDS:
- American Journal of Physiology: Heart, Lung and Circulatory
- American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative
- Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology
- Clinical Science
- Current Reviews of Hypertension
- Hypertension
- Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Associate Editor
- Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (charter member, 2008)

AWARDS AND HONORS:
- PhRMA Faculty Development Award, 1998-2000
- PhRMA Research Starter Award, 1998-2000
- Young Scholar Award, American Society of Hypertension, 2001
- Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, 2002
- Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Nominee, Michigan State University, 2004
- Bowditch Awardee of American Physiological Society, 2008 (Outstanding Research under age of 42)

COMMITTEES/SERVICE:
- Member, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association Foundation (PhRMA) Basic Pharmacology Research Advisory Board, 2001-present
- Pharmacology Study Section, NIH 2002-2004
- Charter Member of Hypertension and Microbiology Study Section, NIH, NHLBI October 2004, 2004-2008
- American Physiological Society, CV Section Nominating Committee, 2004-2007
- ASPET Centennial Celebration Planning Committee, 2004-2008
- Chair, ASPET Graduate Recruitment and Education Committee, 2005-2007
- Vice-Chair, Hypertension Summer School, Maritime Academy in Maine, 2005
- Chair, Hypertension 2007 Summer School (Ft. Collins, CO)
- Chair, Trainee Advocacy committee, CHBPR (2005-2007)
- Leadership of Council for High Blood Pressure research, 2005-2007, 2009-present
- Chair of Keystone Conference "Dissecting the Vasculature", held Feb 2009, Vancouver.
- Chair, NIH ZRG CVS-F (90S), AED.
- NIH RIBT Study Section (00201468), AHA SURF Peer Review Chair, NIH ZRG1 VH-D (58)R Scientific review groups (2009)
- AHA National Research Committee (2009)

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The disease of hypertension affects approximately 20-30% of the world's population, and hypertension continues to be a killer because of placing individuals at a higher risk for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure. Our laboratory is dedicated towards understanding the mechanisms by which arteries and veins contribute to this disease, in the hopes of developing novel treatments for hypertension. Arteries and veins contain smooth muscle, and thus have the ability to contract and change the size of their diameter. We have a history of investigating 'non-classical' pathways or signal transduction mechanisms for smooth muscle contraction. For example, 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT has long been disputed as having the ability to alter blood vessel tone in vivo; we take the stance that it can. At the present, our laboratory has two on-going scientific projects, all of which revolve around understanding vessel dysfunction in hypertension:

1) Role of 5-HT (serotonin, 5-hydroxytryptamine) and the 5-HT transporter in control of normal arterial tone and blood pressure; upregulation and altered function of 5-HT receptors in hypertension; determination of whether a local 5-HT generating system exists in peripheral smooth muscle.

2) Endothelin (ET-1) in control of venomotor tone in hypertension.

We use a multi-faceted technical and integrated approach towards studying these diseases so as to understand the mechanism from a molecular to a whole animal level.