Officers - Arizona Physiological Society

2023 Arizona Physiological Society Executive Officers

President: MITRA ESFANDIAREI, PhD

Professor, College of Graduate Studies, Midwestern University

Research Associate Professor, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix

Adjunct Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

mesfan@midwestern.edu

Mitra Esfandiarei is currently a full-time Professor in the Biomedical Sciences program in the College of Graduate Studies at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. She is also holding adjunct professor positions at the University of British Columbia in Canada and University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. As the coordinator of Master of Biomedical Sciences Program, She has over seven years of experience in curricular development and implementation at the graduate level programs. Through her graduate and postdoctoral training, she received wide-spectrum training in the field of cell biology, pathology, physiology, and pharmacology with a focus on vascular pathophysiology and cardiovascular disease. Currently, Dr. Esfandiarei is leading an NIH-funded study to understand cellular mechanisms underlying the progression of aortic aneurysm in a genetic mouse model of aortic aneurysm and in small cohort of human patients.

Dr. Esfandiarei also has over 25 years of teaching experience at the community college, undergraduate medical school, and graduate level programs, and has been a great advocate of engaging students and trainees from different educational levels ranging from high school to undergraduate students, especially those from minority and under-represented groups. She is very passionate about expanding the translational scientific training and education to high school level students to promote the importance of basic physiology in health and disease. Throughout her career, she have had the privilege of mentoring and working with many talented senior high school and co-operative undergraduate students, who have shown interest in the field of cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology.

Dr. Esfandiarei has been a member of the Arizona Physiological Society (AZPS) for the last 10 years and had the opportunity to interact with many faculty and trainee members and has come to admire the quality of work and dedication of all members towards improving the quality of ongoing research productivity and providing opportunities for trainees to share their excellent and high-quality work with other members. She has found the focus on trainee’s education and networking as one of the most outstanding achievement for AZPS and would like to continue to work with all the society members to further promote such activities. Dr. Esfandiarei’s biggest passion has been and will stay the same: training and mentoring the next generation of basic, translational, or clinical scientists who will be addressing future challenging questions pertaining to the health of our ecosystem while taking the one-health approach in creating new ideas in the next 50 years.

Immediate past President: CHRISTOS KATSANOS, PHD

Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University

christos.katsanos@asu.edu.edu

Christos Katsanos is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. His graduate training was in Exercise Physiology (Florida State University). His postdoctoral training was in Metabolism (University of Texas Medical Branch). Overall goal of His research is to understand substrate (i.e., protein, glucose, lipid) metabolism in skeletal muscle of humans with obesity. His team achieved that by employing a combination of techniques involving infusion of stable isotope tracers and muscle biopsies in human subjects. Dr. Katsanos’ specific goal is to reveal the biological underpinning of impaired metabolism in skeletal muscle of humans with obesity that contribute to the development of Type 2 Diabetes. Dr. Katsanos is a Fellow of the American Physiological Society (APS) and has been a member of the APS for over 20 years, and also been a member of the AZPS since its inception in 2008.

Secretary/Treasurer: Robert Lewis, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, ATSU School of Osteopathic Medicine

robertlewis@atsu.edu

Dr. Lewis is an associate professor of physiology and a teaching/research faculty at A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Lewis’ research include hypoxia and autonomic regulation. Since moving to Arizona in 2018, Dr. Lewis has been an active member of Arizona Chapter of Physiological Society. Dr. Lewis hopes to continue his service as the Chapter Treasurer to promote the networking within the scientific community in Arizona and provide more training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and medical students in the field of physiology.

past Secretary/Treasurer: Sara Jarvis, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University

sara.jarvis@nau.edu

Sara Jervis graduated in 2002 with a BS in Exercise Science and a minor in Biology from the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA), and then pursued her PhD in Kinesiology (emphasis in Exercise Physiology) at the Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA; 2009). She then completed her postdoctoral training in autonomic neurophysiology with Drs. Qi Fu and Benjamin Levine at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine in Dallas, TX from 2009-2011. In 2011, Dr. Jervis joined the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University, where she teaches a wide variety of courses in our program including Functional Anatomy and Kinesiology; Applied Cardiovascular Physiology; Undergraduate Research; and Microgravity: Humans in Space. Her long-term research interests focus on understanding the neural and non-neural mechanisms of cardiovascular regulation. She is particularly interested in examining differences between the sexes, as well as exploring health-based disparities in under-represented groups in our community.

Arizona Chapter Advisory Committee (CAC) Member of the American Physiological Society: paulo pires, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, University of Arizona (Tucson)

ppires@arizona.edu

Postdoctoral Councillor of the Arizona Physiological Society
Lila Buls Wollman, PT, PhD

Postdoctoral Councillor: dallin tavoian, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Arizona, Tucson

Dallin earned his PhD in Translational Neuromuscular Physiology from Ohio University in Athens, OH. His dissertation work focused on the effects of high-intensity interval training on neuromuscular, cardiovascular, and physical function in older adults. Currently, he is working in the Department of Physiology at the University of Arizona under Dr. E. Fiona Bailey to assess the underlying mechanisms driving reductions in blood pressure in response to inspiratory muscle strength training in adults with obstructive sleep apnea.

Graduate Student Councillor of the Arizona Physiological Society
Tala Curry

Graduate Student Councillor: jyotika erram

Northern Arizona University - Flagstaff

Jyotika Erram obtained a B.S. degree in Kinesiology and M.S. in Exercise Physiology from San Diego State University. She is currently a 4th year Ph.D. student studying cardiovascular regulation and endothelial function at Northern Arizona University.