VETERINARY PHYSIOLOGY & PHARMACOLOGY (VTPP

VTPP is a multidisciplinary basic science department that strives to shape the future of research and education in human and veterinary medicine. Research in VTPP is expansive and incorporates excellence in toxicology, cardiovascular biology, regenerative sciences, bone biology, reproductive and developmental biology, and pharmacology. The high level of cooperation among the various departments within the CVMBS and the Texas A&M University scientific community produces an unparalleled research and teaching environment.

VTPP faculty are integral to many of the leading research centers both on and off the Texas A&M University campus. The department faculty are members of the Interdisciplinary Faculties of Toxicology, Genetics, and Reproductive Biology. VTPP is also home to the Michael E. DeBakey Institute for Cardiovascular Science and Biomedical Devices and the foundational basis for the Aggie Research Program and the Biomedical Research Certificate program.

VTPP boasts a scientific community that fosters excellence in teaching and research to train the next generation of biomedical professionals through the concerted efforts of faculty, students, and staff. VTPP affirms and supports many different dimensions of diversity and is fully committed to ensuring a climate of inclusion where all our faculty, students, and staff are empowered to achieve their full potential. Collaboration is the essence of the VTPP faculty and drives our commitment to excellence in a highly interactive, collaborative, and multidisciplinary teaching and research environment. There were 69 peer-reviewed publications by VTPP faculty and 72 extramural grant submissions with seven awarded in 2021.

Dr. Lindsay Dawson

Highlights from FY21 include:

Faculty

• Dr. Lindsay Dawson was recruited as a tenure track Assistant Professor at the College Station campus. • Dr. Fernanda Costa was recruited as a Clinical Assistant Professor to VTPP and will be teaching Physiology at the VERO campus.

College

• Congratulations to Dr. Annie Newell-Fugate (VTPP faculty member and a CVMBS co-leader with Dr. Weston Porter, VIBS) for the first CVMBS X-grant award entitled “MitoX: Targeting Mitochondria to Improve Human Health” This X-grant brings CVMBS researchers together with many investigators from across the campus. • VTPP initiated the “CVMBS Collaboration Café” in collaboration with Small Animal Clinical Sciences (SACS) to encourage scientific discourse across the CVMBS.

Departmental

• Marcus Orzabal was 2020 VTPP Graduate Student of the Year.

• Ms. Angie Taylor was the 2020 VTPP Staff Member of the Year. • Dr. Cris Heaps was the 2020 VTPP Graduate Student Mentor of the Year. • Marcus Orzabal was a third-place winner in the Texas A&M 3-minute thesis competition. • Dr. Blue-McLendon, Director of Winnie Carter Wildlife Center at the CVMBS, recently used Texas A&M crowd-sourcing to raise $5,000+ for improvements at the center.

• VTPP began a departmental Diversity and Inclusion committee to expand D&I efforts in VTPP, convened by Ms. Trudy Bennett. • VTPP website continues to gather traction and increased hits. physiology.tamu.edu • Dr. James Herman has built the Aggie ACHIEVE course “Animals in Society.” Aggie

ACHIEVE is the first residential, inclusive, four-year postsecondary educational opportunity for students in Texas with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

• VTPP maintains research, teaching, and training collaborations with faculty and students across multiple colleges at Texas A&M University. Ongoing educational interactions include the teaching of Physiology to Biomedical

Engineering students. VTPP434 (Physiology for Bioengineers) is a required course in the BMEN program. This extremely highly rated course is currently taught face-to-face in Texas

A&M's Innovative Learning classroom Building. • Dr. Chris Quick has developed the Biomedical Research

Certificate (BRC) and the Aggie Research Program (ARP) across the Texas A&M campus into the largest undergraduate research program in the country. VTPP faculty Drs. Lyons, Cisneros, and Ivanov continue to lead the development of BRC across campus. Dr. Quick has partnered with investigators from across Texas A&M University to grow the research efforts of underrepresented students, initially in the form of multiple NIH R25 applications. These important funding efforts continue to provide students with unique research opportunities and engage Texas A&M researchers.

National

• Dr. Ken Muneoka was keynote speaker at the NIH-Sponsored

Opportunities for Rapid Advancement of Limb Regeneration:

From Animal Models to Humans, February 17-18, 2021 • Recent VTPP funding includes the NIH R01 award to Drs

Larry Suva and Lindsay Dawson entitled “Understanding the

Skeleton in Down Syndrome” and the NIH R01 award to Dr.

Michael Golding entitled “Heritable, epigenetic effects of paternal alcohol use on FASD phenotypes.” • VTPP faculty have one grant remaining to achieve the eight new NIH grants in 3 year challenge set by VTPP in 2019.

Clinical Sciences Discovery Basic Sciences