Temple's Walter Koch, PhD, Elected to Leadership Position in Prestigious National Pharmacology Society
Walter J. Koch, PhD, has been elected as the Chair-Elect of the Cardiovascular Division of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Dr. Koch will serve a three year term beginning July 1, 2015.
Dr. Koch is Professor & Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Director of the Center for Translational Medicine and the William Wikoff Smith Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM). He is nationally regarded as a leader in translational research, including the investigation of cardiac signal transduction and the investigation of the molecular mechanisms of cardiac injury and repair to help develop new therapies for heart-failure patients. In January of 2012, he was named Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Temple University School of Medicine, and the founding Director of Temple's Center for Translational Medicine.
Dr. Koch earned his PhD in pharmacology and cell biophysics from the University of Cincinnati in 1990, and subsequently completed a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center. While at Duke, he started a molecular cardiovascular biology laboratory and became a fully tenured professor of surgery. In 2003, Dr. Koch moved to Thomas Jefferson University to create and lead a Center for Translational Medicine. As principal investigator and project leader of several multi-million dollar NIH grants throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Koch has overseen numerous advances in cardiac research.
ASPET is a nonprofit scientific society founded in 1908. It is devoted to advancing pharmacology and experimental therapeutics through scientific meetings, publications, and education and advocacy efforts. ASPET provides its members with the tools and resources to promote their research, advance their careers and building lasting relationships with fellow scientists. The research of ASPET members helps develop news medicines and therapeutic agents to fight existing and emerging diseases.