 
Westfall to Head Pharmacology Assn. |
Dr. Thomas C. Westfall has been elected to a two-year term as president of the Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs. Westfall is the William Beaumont Chair of Pharmaco-logical and Physiological Sci-ence at the School of Medicine.
The Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs consists of the chairs of departments of pharmacology from medical schools in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The organization furthers the cause of pharmacology to make the best possible contributions in medical education, research and service.
The organization's accomplishments include the development of a set of objectives for teaching pharmacology to medical students, the design of a common drug list to be used in pharmacology courses and the active participation in the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Chairs. The organization holds two meetings a year, in winter and spring, for which Westfall will set the agendas.
"A major challenge of my presidency will be to further champion the role of the Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs in making outstanding contributions to the training of future physicians in the discipline of pharmacology; and to excel in research and service despite the constraints placed upon schools by managed care organizations and other outside forces," Westfall said. "We must continue to excel in spite of the availability of less resources."
Having received his doctorate at West Virginia University, he did postdoctoral and sabbatical training at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the College de France in Paris. He served on the faculty at West Virginia University and the University of Virginia before joining the faculty at SLU in 1979.
Westfall has published extensively on his research concerning an understanding of the mechanisms regulating the synthesis and release of catecholamines from the central and peripheral nervous system; the function and mechanisms of action of presynaptic receptors; neuropharmacology of nicotine; role of the nervous system in experimental hypertension; and the interaction of neuropeptides with catecholamine systems. He is the principal investigator of several research and training grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Westfall has served on numerous national committees, including the Experimental Cardiovas-cular Study Section at the NIH, the Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant Committee for the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences, the Parent Committee for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Specialized Centers of Research in Hypertension and the Pharma-cology Test Committee for the National Board of Medical Examiners. He is on the editorial board of Advances in Pharmacology.
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