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| Alumni Affairs 1999 Recipient - David P. Westfall, PhD (Class of 1968)  Dr. David Westfall, a West Virginian with international recognition for research and teaching, is Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Nevada. He is professor of pharmacology at the University's School of Medicine and maintains an active, extramurally funded research lab. A native of Harrisville, West Virginia and raised in nearby Latrobe, Pennyslvania, he attended Brown University on a wrestling scholarship and received his baccalaureate degree in 1964. He received both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in pharmacology from WVU, finishing in 1968. He did postdoctoral work at Oxford University in Great Britain where he held the position of demonstrator. There he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Edith Bulbring, one of the great investigators in pharmacology of that time period. Dr. Westfall was on faculty in the Department of Pharmacology at WVU for thirteen years beginning in 1970. Quickly rising through the ranks to full professor, he received many teaching awards and was noted for providing exceptional research training for Ph.D. and postdoctoral students. In 1982 he left WVU to assume the chair of pharmacology at the new medical school at the University of Nevada in Reno, where he built an outstanding department while continuing to enhance his outstanding research reputation. Against significant early scientific resistance to his unique ideas, Dr. Westfall unequivocally defined the major factors controlling the role of ATP in neurotransmission. Building on research he began at WVU, he has discovered that ATP serves as an important co-transmitter in autonomic nerves, has identified a new receptor for ATP's actions and proved that an enzyme which breaks down ATP is released from nerve terminals. In leadership at the University of Nevada, he helped develop the medical school's Department of Physiology, serving as its interim chair. He also served as the Interim Associate Dean of Medicine for Research. As a teacher, he has won the "Golden Apple Award" from the Nevada medical students numerous times and has received the University's most prestigious research awards. This year's graduating class selected him as the speaker for their investiture ceremony. Dr. Westfall's CV gives pages of testimony to his national and international recognition, from editorial boards and publications to worldwide speaking invitations. It is with pleasure and pride that we honor Dr. David P. Westfall as the West Virginia University School of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus for 1999. |
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