What is your hometown?

Mason, Michigan

When did you join the University of Iowa faculty?

I was a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Curt D. Sigmund’s lab in Internal Medicine from 2006 to 2010. In 2010 I secured a K99/R00 “Pathway to Independence” award from the NIH (NHLBI) and was promoted to “Associate” within the Department of Pharmacology. In June 2012, I joined the tenure-track as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology.

How/when did you become interested in science and medicine?

In third grade, my parents bought me a copy of the book “The Way Things Work,” by David Macaulay. The simple explanations of how simple machines and first principles underlie all modern technology really excited me and put me on a science and engineering path.

In sixth grade, my science teacher and coach, Jeff Ehlers, made my class read a short story by Isaac Asimov called “Profession.” The main point of the story is that progress depends on the efforts of people that can, and do, think outside the box. We can’t all just be consumers of knowledge…someone must make it, and science is how we accomplish exactly that.

After a few years of working on Science Olympiad projects every day after school with Jeff and David Dodendorf, I couldn’t imagine a career outside of science.

What interested you to pursue a career in Pharmacology?

As a child, I was always dismantling home appliances, launching rockets, making baking soda volcanoes, and programming the neighbors’ VCRs. Ultimately this interest in understanding how things work led to an interest in biology and chemistry.

I participated in multiple summer research programs during my summers in college, supported by the National Science Foundation and the American Heart Association. One of those summers was spent at the University of Florida’s Department of Pharmacodynamics in the laboratory of Michael J. Katovich, PhD. It was here that I really started to appreciate how chemistry impacts our biology. I was hooked, and after graduation I immediately enrolled in graduate school in Mike’s lab.

Is there a teacher or mentor who helped shape your career?

Although I have been truly blessed with a continually-growing list of outstanding mentors and collaborators, my undergraduate research mentor Christopher C. Barney, PhD (Hope College, Holland, MI), really made the largest impact on my career trajectory. He simultaneously ignited my interest in physiology and pharmacology, and challenged my worldview and abilities.

As a classically-trained physiologist, Chris taught me that a well-kept lab notebook is invaluable, that experiments must be designed with the end statistical analyses in mind, that we learn something from every experiment even (and especially) if it ‘fails,’ and that any and all organ systems can (and should) be illustrated on a chalkboard as rectangles…skills and philosophies that I cherish to this day.

How or why did you choose the University of Iowa?

The University of Iowa boasts one of the most elite cardiovascular research centers in the world. A majority of my field’s leaders have spent some portion of their career at Iowa, and it seemed obvious to come to Iowa to learn new techniques, meet new people, and build connections to last a lifetime.

After such an outstanding postdoctoral experience, I was very excited by the opportunity to continue my career as a faculty member at Iowa.

I hope to be able to inspire my students the way he inspired me.

The University of Iowa’s faculty members are united to provide exceptional patient care while advancing innovations in research and medical education. How does your work help translate new discoveries into patient-centered care and education?

One of the best aspects of working at Iowa is the energy and excitement to form new collaborations across departments and specialties.

One example of my ongoing collaborations that has formed over the last two years is a project focused on the pathogenesis of the pregnancy-related cardiovascular disorder, preeclampsia. Preeclampsia involves sudden and grossly elevated blood pressure near the end of pregnancy. This occurs in 5 to 7 percent of pregnancies (>300,000 per year in the U.S.), and causes roughly 15 percent of all maternal/fetal death. Further, moms and babies that survive preeclamptic pregnancies are predisposed to all manner of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders such as hypertension and diabetes for the remainder of their lives. Clinically, we have no early-pregnancy diagnostic biomarkers, and no pharmaceutical treatments available–the only solution (still, after hundreds of years) is to deliver the baby prematurely, which is never good for baby or mom.

Together with Mark K. Santillan, MD (Ob/Gyn), we have identified a new early-pregnancy diagnostic marker that can identify women at the highest risk for this disorder several months before they show any other symptoms (as early as just six weeks into pregnancy). This discovery was greatly accelerated by our diverse but complimentary backgrounds, the world class Maternal Fetal Tissue Bank core facility operated by Donna A. Santillan, PhD (Ob/Gyn), and the financial support of the Roy J. Carver Trust. We have already obtained patents so this new technology can move to clinical use as soon as possible, and we have already secured funding from the American Heart Association to pursue new ideas regarding potential drug treatments for preeclampsia.

I sincerely doubt that these highly translational, hugely impactful studies would have ever happened if Iowa were not so strongly integrated across disciplines and so supportive of new, collaborative ideas.

What kinds of professional opportunities or advantages does being a faculty member at an academic medical center provide? How does working in a collaborative and comprehensive academic medical center benefit your work?

As a basic researcher, it is critically important to interact with and learn from clinical experts.

Working at an academic medical center is wonderful because it not only allows, but indeed forces, basic and clinical researchers to interact and share ideas continuously. The resources and ideas that result can be really amazing. The above example of our collaborative progress on preeclampsia diagnosis and treatment is just one of many examples of the synergistic benefit of clinicians and basic researchers teaming up.

There are many opportunities to interact with a wider array of students at an academic medical center than can be found in more traditional university settings. In addition to the truly outstanding undergraduate and graduate students that I’ve worked with, I have also been blessed with a steady stream of extremely talented medical students in my lab, who are encouraged to get a taste of basic research through the University of Iowa Medical Student Research Program. These students are well trained, energetic, and really motivated‒I very much look forward to hosting more of these students in coming years.

Please describe your professional interests.

My research is focused on metabolic and cardiovascular control by the brain. Specifically, I’m interested in the functions of the brain renin-angiotensin system in the control of blood pressure and resting metabolic rate, and how perturbations in this system can result in hypertension and obesity.

Ongoing questions in the lab include: How does the brain renin-angiotensin system mediate its effects on blood pressure and metabolism? Which body systems activate the brain renin-angiotensin system, and how? How does the brain renin-angiotensin system and its mediators, such as vasopressin, contribute to other hypertensive disorders such as preeclampsia, and metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes? How can we improve technologies for assessing metabolic rate and blood pressure in mice?

What led to your interest in cardiovascular physiology?

One of my mentors, Neil E. Rowland, PhD (University of Florida Psychology), told me once that “if you understand plumbing, you can understand cardiovascular physiology.” Fortuitously, I spent the previous few summers remodeling a house with my father, including replacing and updating the entire original electrical and plumbing systems.

While an oversimplification, Neil’s observation highlights the fact that biological systems are the synergistic embodiment of many types of physical and chemical systems. Because of my simultaneous interests in biology, chemistry, and physics, I was drawn to pharmacology. The fact that I could leverage my experiences in home remodeling to understand cardiovascular physiology didn’t hurt either.

What are some of your outside interests?

Outside of the fun I have working in my lab, I enjoy a few more traditional hobbies and interests, too.

First, I have a three year-old son who keeps us busy most of the time. He is just getting into playing with Legos and asking “why” about everything, so my wife (Connie Grobe, PhD, of the University of Iowa Cancer Center) and I have fun taking turns delivering dissertation-length explanations of the mechanics behind gravity, buoyancy, chicken nuggets, emotions and bedtimes.

Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your professional work?

Frequently revisit first principles. Question your assumptions. Put real effort into identifying and testing alternate hypotheses. Absence of proof is not the proof of absence.

I also enjoy black-and-white film photography and working in my darkroom, reading science fiction and biographies, and listening to various genres of music.

If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of medicine/science), what would it be?

The most valuable asset that scientists have is time. Thus, in a scientific career path, it is very frustrating to spend so much time doing everything that is not science!

An article by Leshner and Fluharty in the Chronicle of Higher Education (Dec 3, 2012) points out that various surveys have documented approximately 42 percent of researchers’ time is spent on administrative tasks instead of the research they are funded to conduct. While acknowledging the importance of regulatory oversight and accountability, it seems absurd that this magnitude of time investment is accepted as normal. I’m grateful for how much the University of Iowa IACUC, IRB, DSP, and administrative staff streamline these aspects of biomedical research here at Iowa.

What is the biggest change you've experienced in your field since you were a student?

If I were a geneticist I would be obligated to answer with something regarding various genome projects, but I’m a pharmacologist.

Without a doubt, the accessibility–and thereby sheer volume–of information is completely different since I was a student. I recall spending several first-year introductory biology lab sessions in the basement of our library, learning how to use subject indices and the like. The internet‒much less PubMed, Wikipedia, and Google‒were definitely not common until I was in graduate school…but now we don’t know what we would do without these tools that ride around in a hip pocket on a phone.

What one piece of advice would you give to today's students?

We learn the most from questioning dogma, and from figuring out why our experiments fail.

Amazing. I look forward to answering this same question in another 20 years.

What do you see as "the future" of medicine/science?

Personalized therapies–through pharmacogenetics–is a very realistic future of medicine.

In what ways are you engaged with the greater Iowa public (i.e., population-based research, mentoring high school students, sharing your leadership/expertise with organizations or causes, speaking engagements off campus, etc.)?

As an undergraduate I became a student member of the American Heart Association (AHA), and my participation has steadily increased since then. In addition to reviewing manuscripts and grants for the AHA, I have recently completed a four-year term as the Chair of the Trainee Advocacy Committee for the Council for High Blood Pressure Research. In this position, I was primarily tasked with ensuring opportunities for young researchers in the field of hypertension research. Investing time and resources into young researchers is absolutely essential for biomedical science to weather the current federal funding challenges, and for ensuring an effective future workforce.