Allen Cowley, Jr., PhD

Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology
Award:
Hector F. DeLuca Scientific Achievement Award
Year
2018

Allen W. Cowley, Jr. has been a Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin since 1980.  Dr. Cowley is an international leader in cardiovascular research and has made seminal observations that have advanced our understanding of hypertension.

As the Chair of Physiology, Dr. Cowley has forged the development and integration of genomics, bioinformatics, computational biology and physiology to address questions of clinical importance.  Under his leadership, the Department has ranked nationally in the top 1-3 for NIH funding among all medical school physiology departments.  This strong research program, in turn, spawned the creation of the MCW Cardiovascular Center, the Human Molecular Genetics Center (now known as the Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine Center), and the Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology Center (now the new Department of Biomedical Engineering).

As a member of the Advisory Council of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH, he spearheaded efforts which resulted in the investment of more than $100 million for the development of the needed infrastructure to link genes to complex physiological functions and diseases (Programs of Genomic Applications).  As President of the American Physiological Society, he was responsible for the launching in 1999 of the journal of Physiological Genomics in a determined effort to unite the genomic and physiological sciences in the identification of functional relevance of genomic research.  Dr. Cowley also has served as President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences and Chair of the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Council for High Blood Pressure Research.

Dr. Cowley has received many awards and honors recognizing his work including MCW’s Distinguished Service Award, multiple honorary doctorates, and awards from the American Physiological Society, the American Heart Association, the NIH,  the American Heart Association, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology.