Dr. Allen Cowley Appointed Cardiovascular Center Director
June 10 - Allen W. Cowley Jr., PhD, chairman and professor of physiology, has been appointed director of the cardiovascular center by Jonathan I. Ravdin, MD, dean and executive vice president, effective July 1. He succeeds David R. Harder, PhD, Kohler Co. Professor in Cardiovascular Research, who has served as acting director of the center since June 2008, when he was promoted to associate dean of research.
Dr. Cowley is the James J. Smith and Catherine Welsch Smith Professor in Physiology and the Harry & Gertrude Hack Term Professor in Physiology. He will remain chairman and maintain his endowed professorships.
Dr. Cowley is one of the Medical College’s most distinguished scientists, and his studies of the physiological causes and effects of hypertension are internationally recognized. Under his direction, the College’s physiology department continues to rank among the top physiology departments in the country in terms of funding support from the National Institutes of Health.
“Dr. Cowley’s leadership and scientific vision will both be of tremendous value to the Cardiovascular Center,” said Dr. Ravdin.
Dr. Ravdin also thanked Dr. Harder for his years of service to the cardiovascular center. Dr. Harder had served as director of the center for 15 years, before he began serving as acting director to accommodate his promotion.
“I am thankful Dr. Harder agreed last year to temporarily serve in a dual capacity,” said Dr. Ravdin. “He has assumed his new duties as associate dean of research with the same sense of purpose and urgency, dedication and leadership he brought to the cardiovascular center.”
An international leader in cardiovascular research, Dr. Cowley has made significant contributions to understanding the causes and effects of hypertension, or high blood pressure, including the regulation of body fluids and salt excretion.
For his work, Dr. Cowley has received some of the most prestigious honors in his field. In 2006, he accepted the Ray G. Daggs Award from the American Physiological Society, an organization for which he previously served as president. The award is the society’s highest recognition of scientific contribution and service to the discipline.
The American Heart Association (AHA) honored Dr. Cowley in 2004 for his research in high blood pressure with a Distinguished Scientist designation, its top scientific honor for members who have made extraordinary contributions to cardiovascular and stroke research. He also received the AHA’s Council for High Blood Pressure Research Novartis Award in 1998.
Dr. Cowley received his PhD and master of science degree from Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia and received his undergraduate degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.