Dr. Harold Laughlin

Harold Laughlin, PhD, professor and chair of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine, was recently named a Curators' Professor by the University of Missouri Board of Curators meeting.

A Curators' Professorship is the highest and most prestigious academic rank awarded by the university's Board of Curators. It is awarded to a select few outstanding scholars with established national reputations.

Each Curators' Professor becomes a resource of the entire university is expected to contribute to the institution through such activities as giving lectures on other campuses and engaging in teaching and research across divisional lines.

Nominations are made by colleagues who supply supporting documentation. Only outstanding scholars with established reputations are considered for appointment.

In his letter notifying Dr. Laughlin of this achievement, University of Missouri President Dr. Elson Floyd noted that, "This honor comes in recognition of your exemplary service to the MU. Your peers have applauded your national leadership in the science of integrative physiology. Your many contributions to public higher education have brought credit to the university."

"It's hard to imagine a person more deserving of recognition as a Curators'
Professor," added Dr. Joe Kornegay, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Laughlin is recognized as one of the leading researchers in how exercise positively affects a person's cardiovascular health. Since 1981 the National Institutes of Health has funded his research using pigs as a model for humans. The goal of this research is to understand the effects of exercise training on the coronary circulation and skeletal muscle vascular beds. Exercise training produces increases in the capacity of myocardial and skeletal muscle vascular beds to transport oxygen and other nutrients.

Importantly, Dr. Laughlin's research has demonstrated positive effects of physical activity on the cells of artery walls, smooth muscle and endothelial cells.

Dr. Laughlin received his undergraduate training at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. His PhD was earned at the University of Iowa where he also was a postdoctoral fellow. He trained in physiology at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine.

Before joining the MU College of Veterinary Medicine in 1985, Dr. Laughlin was a physiologist for the Air Force and associate professor of physiology at Oral Roberts University Medical School, Tulsa.

Of 30 significant awards and honors, Dr. Laughlin has earned the Beecham Award for Research Excellence, the Hitchcock Award for Excellence in Aerospace Physiology, and the Citation Award from the American College of Sports Medicine.

"I am deeply honored by being named a Curators' Professor," Dr. Laughlin said. "The fact that my colleagues and supervisors consider me qualified is a great honor. I know that my colleagues at MU and the environment generated here by these colleagues, students, and staff are responsible in no small part for this recognition."

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