Sigmund Named to UI Carver Chair in Hypertension Research
Curt D. Sigmund, PhD, professor of internal medicine and molecular physiology and biophysics in the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, has been named to the Roy J. Carver Chair in Hypertension Research. The five-year appointment was effective July 1.
The endowed chair was established through gifts to the UI Foundation by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, to support research in cardiovascular medicine at UI.
Sigmund is internationally known for his research examining the genetic basis of hypertension, renal and neural mechanisms causing hypertension, and the regulation of blood vessel function. A recent study in cell metabolism, which identified a molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function, exemplifies his team's use of state-of-the-art genetic manipulation to understand fundamental mechanisms regulating blood pressure.
A UI faculty member in internal medicine (cardiology division) and molecular physiology and biophysics since 1991, Sigmund leads the Roy J. Carver Program of Research Excellence in the Functional Genomics of Cardiovascular Disease and the UI Center for Functional Genomics of Hypertension, which is currently funded with a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. He also is director of the UI Transgenic Animal Facility.
"Dr. Sigmund's appointment to the Carver Chair in Hypertension Research is fitting recognition of his international prominence in the field of cardiovascular research and of his outstanding academic achievements and contributions to the Carver College," said Jeffrey Field, MD, professor and interim head of internal medicine. "The significant advances that Dr.Sigmund has made in understanding the molecular and physiological basis of hypertension will have important clinical implications for the many patients affected by hypertension and its complications."
Sigmund received a master's degree in biology in 1984 and a doctorate in molecular and cellular biology in 1987 at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He served as a research affiliate from 1987-88, and as a postdoctoral fellow from 1988-1991, at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
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Curt D. Sigmund, PhD
Jeffrey Field, MD UI Foundation by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
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Drack Receives Grant for Research on Retinitis Pigmentosa
The Foundation Fighting Blindness has awarded a five-year, $325,000 grant to Arlene Drack, MD, associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences in the UI Carver College of Medicine, to study the blinding eye disease retinitis pigmentosa. The award was effective July 1.
Drack, who recently joined the UI faculty, will use the foundation's Marjorie Carr Adams Career Development Award for a project to try to reverse or prevent retinitis pigmentosa in mice that have the condition due to Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a multi-system disorder that includes retinitis pigmentosa.
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For more information:
Foundation Fighting Blindness
Arlene Drack, MD
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
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Segal Receives Grant for Aging-Related Research
Neil Segal, MD, assistant professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation in the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, has received a five-year, $1.18 million grant from the Paul B. Beeson Career Development Awards in Aging Research Program. Segal was one of only 13 physicians honored with Beeson grants this year.
Established in 1995, the Beeson program provides faculty development awards to outstanding junior and mid-career faculty committed to academic careers in aging related research, training and practice. The program is funded by several organizations including the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Starr Foundation and the National Institute on Aging.
With this grant, Segal aims to advance treatment of knee osteoarthritis and to reduce disablement in older adults with knee osteoarthritis. This research will focus on the effects of two rehabilitation interventions on mobility limitations, knee-specific disability, thigh muscle composition, impairments in leg power and quality of life, in a study that will begin in August. The results of this work may lead to more effective rehabilitation and may determine which older adults with painful or stiff knee osteoarthritis will be most likely to benefit from particular rehabilitative interventions.
Segal joined the UI faculty in 2004. He received a medical degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn., and completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. |
For more information:
Neil Segal, MD
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
Paul B. Beeson Career Development Awards in Aging Research Program
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