In Memoriam, P. Michael Conn, PhD (1949–2016)

摘要

With the sudden passing of P. Michael Conn, the Endocrine Society lost one of the hardest-working scientists we have known (Fig. 1). Michael was born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, received his BS from the University of Michigan, his MS from North Carolina State University, and his PhD from Baylor College of Medicine (working in Bert O’Malley’s laboratory). Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the Dufau-Catt Laboratory at the National Institute of Child Health and Development, he joined the pharmacology department at Duke University, where his scientific career blossomed. In 1984, he assumed the chairmanship of pharmacology at the University of Iowa, where his flair for administration and scientific leadership first became apparent as he built powerful basic science programs in both pharmacology and reproductive biology. He then moved to the Oregon Health Science Center as professor of physiology and pharmacology, associate director of the Primate Center and, ultimately, provost. There, he again oversaw a major scientific expansion during the presidency of Peter Kohler. At the time of his unexpected passing, Michael had begun leading a similar major science development effort as senior vice president for research and associate provost at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, where he remained an active professor of internal medicine and cell biology and biochemistry. His loving wife, Debby, survives him.