The Physiological Society’s Board of Trustees is delighted to announce the appointment of two new Honorary Fellows:
- Professor Donald M. Bers, Ph.D., University of California, Davis School of Medicine, U.S.
- Professor Catherine Ross CSci, CBiol, FRSB, FAHCS, FESC, FRCPath (Hon.), Chief Scientific Officer for Scotland, UK
Honorary Fellowship is the highest honour that The Physiological Society presents to an individual and it recognises persons of distinction in science who have contributed to the advancement of physiology.
The Fellowship appointments will be celebrated at the President’s Lecture and Award Ceremony which will be held on Friday 29 November 2024 at The Royal Society of Medicine in London and online.
Professor Donald M. Bers, Ph.D.
Donald Bers is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine (since 2008). He also holds the Joseph Silva Chair for Cardiovascular Research and is Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UC Davis. He graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder (1974) and did Ph.D. studies in Physiology at UCLA in 1978, followed by postdoctoral study at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1979-80). He returned to UCLA and then as an Assistant Professor at UC Riverside (1982) where he rose to Professor and Associate Dean of Biomedical Sciences. He was recruited in 1992 to Loyola University Chicago as Chair of Physiology, and De-Pauw Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research, where he rebuilt a strong collaborative research program. In 2008 he moved to his current position at UC Davis where he also rebuilt a department as a highly collaborative, productive and diverse research faculty. Oxford University also selected him as the Newton-Abraham Professor in 2019, spending six months back in the UK.
His research has focused on cardiac Na and Ca transport, electrophysiology, CaM, CaMKII and adrenergic signaling, E-C coupling, myofilament activation, mitochondrial Ca/energetics, GPCR signaling, and contractile dysfunction and arrhythmogenesis in heart failure and diabetes. His group also creates detailed computational models of ion transport, electrophysiology and signaling that integrate these properties to enhance quantitative mechanistic understanding of physiological and pathological function. Dr Bers has a productive publications track record (>550 papers), h-index=141 (>75,000 citations) and strong NIH grant funding for >40 years. This has led to over 700 symposium and seminar presentations around the world and his recruitment to numerous editorial boards (including Senior Editor for The Journal of Physiology 2011-21) and extensive grant review service for numerous agencies. He has been an effective leader of large research groups (e.g. a 10-year NIH Program Project Grant and as Chair of academic departments at three Universities. He has trained >100 Ph.D. students, postdocs and junior faculty (~50% female and from 34 countries) and among his numerous honours, was awarded the Eric N. Olson Mentoring Award from the International Society for Heart Research in 2023.
Professor Catherine Ross CSci, CBiol, FRSB, FAHCS, FESC, FRCPath (Hon.)
Chief Scientific Officer for Scotland
Catherine Ross is the Chief Scientific Officer for Scotland, Scottish Government’s most senior clinical advisor for Healthcare Science professional issues, and head of profession for the scientific workforce within the NHS in Scotland. She provides expert professional advice to Scottish Ministers and Policy Officials and leadership for all aspects of policy which impact on the scientific workforce including education, research and clinical practice.
Catherine is a Chartered Scientist and Chartered Biologist and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, the National Institute of Prevention and Cardiovascular Health in Ireland and the European Society of Cardiology, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and the Academy for Healthcare science. She is a Visiting Professor at Edinburgh Napier University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Ulster University and Honorary Research Consultant in NHS Lothian. Catherine is a non-executive director of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Irelands largest health trust.
Catherine holds a number of senior leadership positions Nationally and Internationally. She is the current President of the Science Council, the awarding body of Chartership in Science, having previously held the role of Vice-Chair of the Board and Chair of the Policy Advisory Committee. She has previously served as the President of the Professional Body for Cardiac Scientists. Catherine is currently a Board member of the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions within the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and is the Chair of Allied Professionals National Societies Committee and Chair of the European Society of Cardiology Taskforce on Allied Professionals. She represents Scotland on the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) Board and is a member of the International (IFMBE) scientific programme committee. In recognition of her work supporting women leaders has been an invited delegate for the UK UN Women delegation on the UN Commission on the Status of Women.