Contact Information
Available for logged-in reporters only
Newswise Bethesda, MD (February 26, 2014) The American Physiological Society (APS) today announced the election of Patricia E. Molina, MD, PhD, as the new president-elect. Barbara Alexander, PhD, Rudy M. Ortiz, PhD, and Bill Yates, PhD, were also announced as new APS Councillors. The new officers were elected by the APS membership and will take office at the Experimental Biology meeting on April 30, 2014.
Dr. Patricia E. Molina is a Richard Ashman, PhD professor and head of the department of physiology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in New Orleans. She is also director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center of Excellence at LSUHSC. Dr. Molina received her medical degree from the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala and her PhD from LSUHSC. Dr. Molina completed her postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Molinas research focuses on the impact of alcohol and drug abuse on the cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune consequences of acute traumatic injury and hemorrhagic shock. Her laboratory also investigates the interaction of chronic alcohol and cannabinoid use on the behavioral, metabolic, and immune consequences of HIV/AIDS.
Active on a number of APS committees, Dr. Molina has served as chair of both the International and Porter Physiology Development and Minority Affairs committees and of the APS Gulf-Coast chapter.
Physiologists skills and knowledge have never been as relevant as today. They are the core of team science, render context to big data, and should lead the educational initiatives necessary for health literacy, essential in achieving health equity, Dr. Molina said. I am committed to the professional development of a diverse and inclusive APS membership body that will continue to evolve and embrace current and future scientific challenges.
Dr. Barbara T. Alexander is an associate professor and director of the Analytical and Assay Core at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson. She received her undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University before completing her graduate work and postdoctoral training at UMMC. Dr. Alexanders research focuses on the renal mechanisms linking low birth weight and hypertension. Utilizing an integrative approach, including whole animal and molecular and biochemical analysis, she investigates how poor fetal growth due to placental insufficiency leads to high blood pressure.
Dr. Alexander has served as secretary-treasurer of the Water and Electrolyte Homeostasis section and on the editorial board of AJPRegulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology; AJPRenal Physiology; and AJPHeart and Circulatory Physiology. She has also served as a member on the Women in Physiology and Communications committees and as an organizer for the APS conference Physiology of Cardiovascular Disease: Gender Disparities.
My involvement in the APS is driven by its strong commitment to foster education, scientific research, and communication of science to the public, Dr. Alexander wrote. I value these missions of the APS and believe that it is important for our council to continue to provide avenues of support to its members in order to not only enrich their science and career goals but to ensure the continuation of physiology as a science.