About the Department
In both its research activities and its teaching role, the Department focuses on the integration of systems and molecular biology, and the use of this integration to understand pathophysiology. The Department plays a significant role in teaching integrative concepts to medical students, and the principles of scientific investigation to PhD and MD/PhD students and postdoctoral fellows.
Department faculty members maintain active research laboratories located in the Mudd Memorial Research Building, in the Zilkha Neurosciences Building, and in the Raulston Memorial Research Building. The Department is highly collegial with multiple scientific and teaching interactions among members within the Department as well as with members of other departments within the University.
Several Department of Physiology and Biophysics faculty members have received notable scientific awards from national and international organizations. These awards include the Lilly Award from the American Diabetes Association (Bergman), the Carl W. Gottschalk Research Scholar Award from the American Society for Nephrology (Peti-Peterdi), the Fahraeus Award from the International Society of Clinical Hemorheology (Meiselman), and the Poiseuille Gold Medal from the International Society of Biorheology (Meiselman). Two of our faculty members have been named either as a Searle Scholar by the Searle Scholars Program (Zhang) or as a McKnight Scholar by the McKnight Endowment for the Neurosciences (Sampath). Several faculty members are Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Farley), of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (Mircheff; Silver Fellow), or of the National Academy of Sciences (Zhang; Kavli Fellow), and have been named as Established Investigators of the American Heart Association (Farley and Peti-Peterdi). Department faculty members have also received University-wide and school-wide recognition as outstanding teachers.
Graduates of the Department Ph.D. and M.S. programs have achieved success as independent investigators and faculty members in academia and non-academic laboratories, in science administration and policy, and in government. Admission to Department degree programs is competitive and highly selective, but provides students with a strong scientific and educational environment that will prepare them for different careers after graduation.