Douglas G. Stuart

Douglas G. Stuart (born October 5, 1931) is a Regents' professor emeritus of Physiology at the University of Arizona.^[1] He became a naturalized US citizen in 1961. He is married and has four children and seven grandchildren.

Contributions in neuroscience

Stuart is known worldwide^[2] for his research contributions in neural control of movement, in the understanding of the fundamental properties of spinal neurons, overviews on the neurobiology of motor control, and the history of movement neuroscience. He has over 130 experimental papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and has authored almost 100 chapters, reviews and symposium volumes. His research was funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health. Between 1984 and 1991, he held the Senator Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, and between 1976 and 1977 he was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow. Stuart coined the term "interphyletic awareness" during the organization (together with Sten Grillner (University of Stockholm and Paul Stein (Washington University, St. Louis) of three international conferences that brought together scientists working on various species, all followed by widely read symposium volumes. Stuart's lab has made exceptional contributions to the study of locomotion, and the need to integrate findings from experiments on invertebrates, non-mammalian vertebrates, mammalian tetrapods, non-human primates, and humans.^[3]

In recent years Stuart has focussed on writing historical articles and reviews on the history of neuroscience in general, and movement neuroscience in particular.^[4][5]

Other achievements

Almost 100 scientists from across the globe have worked with Stuart as PhD students, post-doctoral trainees or visiting professors. A number of Stuart's post-doctoral trainees are now leading research universities and institutes in the USA and worldwide (e.g., Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute,^[6] Nicosia, Cyprus; Ibaraki Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan; Institute of Biophysics,^[7] Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sophia, Bulgaria; Nara Medical University, Yagi, Japan; University of Chicago, IL, USA; University of Washington, Seattle, WA; McGill University, Montreal, Canada; University College, London, UK).

Awards

• USPHS Predoctoral Fellow - UCLA Mental Health Training Program: for temperature regulation studies with Professor Allan Hemingway, Dept Physiology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 1958-61
• Bank of America-Giannini Foundation Postdoctoral Medical Research Fellow: for muscle receptor studies with Professor Earl Eldred, Dept Anatomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 1961-63
• USPHS Special Research Fellowship: for spinal-cord studies with Professor Anders Lundberg, Dept Physiology, University of Goteborg, Goteborg, SWE 1971-72
• Guggenheim Fellow: for studies in clinical neurophysiology with Dr David Burke, Unit of Clinical Neurophysiology, The Prince Henry Hospital, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AUS 1976-77
• Senator Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator, a NINCDS award, National Institutes of Health 1984-91
• Keynote Speaker, 5th Annual Faculty Teaching Awards, College of Medicine, University of Arizona 1985
• Seventh Annual Neuroscience Lecture, Neurological Sciences Institute, Good Samaritan Hospital, Portland, OR 1987
• Grass Foundation Traveling Scientist: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MA, CAN, 1989; University of Delaware, Newark, DE 2001
• Eleventh Annual Founders Day Speaker, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, 1989
• Regents' Professor, University of Arizona 1990
• John Marley Leadership Award, Section on Research, American Physical Therapy Association 1995
• Graduation Convocation Speaker, College of Health Professions, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 1995
• Certificate of Recognition for Contributions in Teaching, Research, and Service in Neuroscience, The University of Arizona 1998
• Invited Speaker, Dedication of Biology/Biochemistry Building, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 2000
• Invited speaker, Flinn Foundation Finale Dinner, Motor Control Laboratory, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 2000
• Named University of Arizona Fellowship in Perpetuity, "The Douglas G Stuart Predoctoral Fellowship in Movement Neuroscience" 2002-Pres
• Award for contributions to Biomedical Engineering, The University of Arizona 2003
• Award for Contributions to Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs, The University of Arizona 2004

References