After 20 years in the position, Stan stepped down as PBio Chair on June 30, 2020. During his tenure, the department hired 10 tenure track faculty and numerous research faculty. Of those considered for promotion, all eligible faculty were promoted with tenure and many are now full professors. Stan increased the representation of women and minority faculty, recruiting five women and five faculty who bring increased diversity to the department.
PBio continues to excel in research, focused in the fields of neuroscience, cardiovascular physiology, small molecule biophysics and chromosome dynamics. Computational neuroscience was added as a research focus, resulting in the formation of the UW Center for Computational Neuroscience, housed in department space but used by campus-wide scientists. A major renovation in the early 2005 dramatically improved space in the H wing and resulted in consolidation of the department of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors of the G and H wings of Magnuson Health Science Building. In recent years, PBio has ranked in research funding in the top 3 physiology departments nationwide, according to the ACDP rankings.
The department continues to have major teaching presence in the graduate and undergraduate neuroscience and medical curricula. Recently, an undergraduate course in human physiology was launched. Graduate student and postdoctoral training continue to be a major contributor to our rich research environment. Most importantly, the department maintains its unique spirit of collaboration, excellence in research and teaching, commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and respect for each other.
“It’s been my great honor and privilege to serve as chair of this amazing department.” Stan said. “I inherited an already strong department from Wayne Crill and together, we have made the department even stronger by hiring top-notch faculty, expanding the research activities and adopting leading edge research technology. I am looking forward to continuing as a faculty member and contributing to the research and teaching activities of the department.”
Beth Buffalo began serving as Interim Chair on July 1.