Executive Advisory Group
The Department of Pharmacology Executive Advisory Group (EAG) works on departmental strategic direction, administration and prioritizing initiatives. The Department is led by Chair Donald Bers, Ph.D. and the Executive Advisory Group that includes Johannes W. Hell, Ph.D. (Vice-Chair for Academic Development), Crystal M. Ripplinger, Ph.D., (Vice-Chair for Research and Administration) and Heike Wulff, Ph.D. (Vice-Chair for Education).
Dr. Donald M. Bers is the Joseph Silva Endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Research, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at University of California, Davis. Dr. Bers obtained his BA in Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his Ph.D. in Physiology from UCLA. Dr. Bers has been the Chair of the Department of Pharmacology at University of California, Davis, School of Medicine since 2008. He holds the Joseph Silva endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Research and has built an excellent environment for collaborative research at UC Davis.
Dr. Bers has been productive in studies of cardiac Ca signaling, with extensive publications (>440 papers, h-index = 106), an influential single author book Excitation-Contraction Coupling and Cardiac Contractile Force, and continuous NIH grant funding for 35 years. He has mentored >100 Ph.D. students, postdocs and junior faculty, many of whom have gone on to highly successful independent careers. He has an extensive network of productive collaborations with labs throughout the U.S. and internationally, and has been an effective leader of a large research groups. His scientific work has focused on Ca and Na transport, signaling and electrophysiology in the heart, including fundamental characterization of ion transporters and channels, electrophysiology, E-C coupling, myofilament activation, mitochondrial Ca/ energetics, GPCR signaling, systolic dysfunction and arrhythmogenesis (e.g. in hypertrophy and heart failure), always with an eye toward both integrative aspects of cardiac function/ clinical relevance and drilling down to more fundamental quantitative mechanistic understanding and the development of computational models.
Dr. Bers has received numerous awards and held leadership positions for the AHA, International Society for Heart Research, Biophysical Society, Heart Failure Society of America, American Physiology Society, Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology. He has served on numerous grant review panels, editorial boards as an associate editor, and has organized scientific meetings.
Follow us on LinkedIn