Cardiovascular Pharmacology

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Dr Harrison is the Jack and Betty While Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University and the Director of Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt.

EDUCATION AND BACKGROUND:
He received his MD degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1974 and obtained his house staff and clinical cardiology training at Duke University. From 1980 to 1982, he completed a cardiovascular research fellowship at the University of Iowa. In 1982, he joined the faculty at the University of Iowa, and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1987. In 1990, he moved to the Cardiology Division at Emory University, where he was appointed Professor of Medicine. In the 1980s and 1990s, Dr Harrison has served as the Director of Cardiology at both the Iowa City and Atlanta VA hospitals and was the Director of Cardiology at Emory from 2000 to 2009. In 2011, he was named the Director of Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University.

MEMBERSHIPS & PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
Dr Harrison has been an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association and has served on numerous committees for the AHA, including the AHA Scientific Sessions Planning Committee, the AHA Research Committee, the Novartis Award committee and the Credentialing committee for the Council on Circulation, which he chaired. He served as the Chairman of the AHA Council on Circulation. In 1992, he was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and in 2002 to the Association of American Physicians.

Dr Harrison has served as the Chairman of the National Institutes of Health Experimental Cardiovascular Studies Study Section (ECS). Dr Harrison has served on the editorial boards of multiple journals, including Circulation, Circulation Research, Atherosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, the Journal of Clinical Investigation and Hypertension.

AWARDS:
In 2002, Dr Harrison received the Robert M Berne Award from the Cardiovascular Section of the American Physiological Society. In 2004, Dr Harrison received the Novartis Award from the American Heart Association Council on High Blood Pressure, which is the highest award given for hypertension research. In 2010, he received the Carl Wiggers Award for Cardiovascular Physiology from the American Physiological Society. In 2010, we also was named a Distinguished Scientist of the American Heart Association.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
His career has been devoted to basic research related to vascular function and hypertension. His recent research has focused on the role of inflammation and immunity in hypertension.