Dr. Michael Welsh to Give Charles M. Baugh Lecture

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Posted on November 14, 2014

Ashley Givens

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The University of South Alabama College of Medicine’s Charles M. Baugh 2014 Endowed Lecture in Basic Medical Sciences will feature Dr. Michael Welsh, a Howard Hughes Investigator at the University of Iowa and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

His lecture, titled “The Origins of Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease,” will take place Nov. 20, 2014, at 4 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building auditorium on USA’s main campus.

Dr. Welsh is also Roy J. Carver Biomedical Research Chair in Internal Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, professor of neurosurgery, and director of the University of Iowa Cystic Fibrosis Research Center. In addition, he serves as director of the University of Iowa Institute for Biomedical Discovery at the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine of the University of Iowa.

Dr. Welsh’s laboratory focuses on understanding the biology of cystic fibrosis, a common lethal genetic disease. Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in a gene that encodes the CFTR chloride channel. Dr. Welsh and his colleagues are learning how the CFTR chloride channel is regulated, how it forms a chloride pore in the cell membrane, and how mutations disrupt its function. His lab also focuses on the pathogenesis of cystic fibrosis lung disease, learning how the loss of CFTR causes bacterial airway infections and how bacteria interact with the airway. In addition, Dr. Welsh and his colleagues are developing gene transfer methods to treat cystic fibrosis and other genetic diseases.

Dr. Welsh earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, where he completed his residency in internal medicine. He held clinical and research fellowships in pulmonary disease at the University of California, San Francisco, and did postgraduate research in physiology and cell biology at the University of Texas, Houston.

Dr. Welsh has served as president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and president of the Association of American Physicians. He has received numerous awards, including the Doris F. Tulcin Cystic Fibrosis Research Award, the Paul di Sant’Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Francis Blake Award from the Association of American Physicians, and the J. Burns Amberson Award from the American Thoracic Society.

Learn more about Dr. Welsh.

The lecture is held in memory of Dr. Charles M. Baugh, who served twice as dean of the USA College of Medicine and as vice president for medical affairs. He began his career at USA in 1973 as a charter member of the medical school faculty and as professor and chair of biochemistry. In 1976, Dr. Baugh was named associate dean for basic medical sciences and served as dean from 1987-1992 and from 1999-2000. In addition, Dr. Baugh was involved in the creation of the USA Health Services Foundation, the South Alabama Medical Sciences Foundation, PrimeHealth, and in the development of USA's biomedical library which bears his name.

Past Baugh Lecturers Have Been:

• Frank Maley, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research, Albany, N.Y.
• Michael A. Marletta, Ph.D., Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and John G. Searle Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan
• Stanley Cohen, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 1986, and Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University
• Gail H. Cassell, Ph.D., Vice President, Scientific Affairs and Distinguished Lilly Research Scholar for Infectious Diseases, Eli Lilly and Company and Laboratories
• Max D. Cooper, M.D., Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, Microbiology and Pathology, University of Alabama College of Medicine at Birmingham
• Sir Philip Cohen, Ph.D., Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences and Professor of Enzymology, Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit, University of Dundee, Scotland

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