ECU physiology professor wins inaugural award for service from national organization
Dr. Robert Carroll, professor of physiology in the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, was awarded the American Physiological Society’s (APS) inaugural Presidential Outstanding Service Award during the recent American Physiological Summit in Long Beach, California.
The new award recognizes an APS member for extended and outstanding volunteer service to the society and the APS community. The recipient is chosen each year by the current APS president.
“APS is a member-driven organization that relies heavily on its member-volunteers, many of whom spend their entire careers in service to the society with little public recognition,” said APS President Dee Silverthorn. “I’m pleased to recognize Rob for a lifetime of volunteer service to the society and to the broader physiology community.”
Dee Silverthorn, American Physiological Society president, East Carolina University faculty member Robert Carroll, and APS executive director Scott Steen attend the opening session of the 2023 APS Physiology Summit in Long Beach, California.
(Contributed photo)
An APS member since 1980, Carroll is an inaugural member of the Center for Physiology Education Advisory Board. He has also held leadership roles within the society, including past chair of the Teaching of Physiology Section and the Education Committee and former editor-in-chief of “Advances in Physiology Education.”
“I am deeply honored to receive the inaugural Presidential Outstanding Service Award,” Carroll said. “After joining the APS as a student member in 1980, the society rapidly became my ‘go-to’ source for professional and personal development, both scientifically and organizationally. The society invites and encourages member involvement at all levels, and the skills I acquired while volunteering with the APS facilitated my growth into leadership roles at ECU.”
Carroll earned his doctorate in 1981 in the Department of Physiology of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Newark. Following a three-year postdoc at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, he came to ECU in 1984 as an assistant professor of physiology. In addition to professor, formerly held an administrative appointment as associate dean for medical student education.
Carroll co-organized the Medical Physiology Learning Objectives project, co-published in 2006 by APS and the Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology. His long history of international outreach activities includes serving as the current chair of the International Union of Physiological Sciences Education Committee.
He also served on the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination Step I Physiology Test Material Development Committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners and as secretary for the International Association of Medical Science Educators. He was recognized in 2002 in the inaugural class of master educators at the Brody School of Medicine and in 2004 as the Arthur C. Guyton Physiology Educator of the Year from the American Physiological Society. He received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 2005, was recognized as a master teacher by the International Association of Medical Science Educators in 2013 and received the Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2018.
The APS connects a global, multidisciplinary community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators as part of its mission to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health. The society drives collaboration and spotlights scientific discoveries through its 16 scholarly journals and programming that supports researchers and educators in their work.