Gerry Oxford '69 has been selected as the first executive director of the Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Details...
Oxford, a biology major and Elon’s Young Alumnus of the Year in 1979, also served as Elon’s first youth trustee on the board of trustees immediately following his graduation. His parents, Ralph and Hilda Oxford, still make their home in Elon.
This news release announcing Oxford’s appointment is provided courtesy of Indiana University:
INDIANAPOLIS–Gerry Oxford, Ph.D., has been selected as the first executive director of the Paul and Carole Stark Neurosciences Research Institute. Dr. Oxford, who also will be a professor of pharmacology and toxicology, will begin his duties at the Indiana University School of Medicine July 1, pending approval of the Trustees of Indiana University.
The selection of Dr. Oxford ended several years of planning and a 19-month search for the position made possible through the generosity of Dr. Paul and Carole Stark, whose $15 million gift will help establish an extensive neurosciences research program at IUSM. The Institute will encompass many disciplines of research including medical and molecular genetics, chemistry, anatomy, pharmacology, psychiatry, pathology, physiology, computation, neurology, surgery and imaging.
Dr. Oxford will be charged with implementing the Institute’s mission which is to enhance collaboration among scientists who share the goal of understanding the basis of central nervous system diseases and help them realize a greater potential as contributors to the body of neuroscience research.
In announcing the selection, IU School of Medicine Dean Craig Brater, M.D., said Dr. Oxford’s experience and talents will lead the new Institute into a place of scientific prominence while capitalizing on the existing research talents at IU.
“Gerry Oxford is one of the top neuroscientists in the country,” said Dr. Brater. “He is a noted scientist, but he also brings the attribute of having developed a highly collaborative approach to research and education. He is the perfect person to be the initial executive director of the Stark Neurosciences Institute, where he will coalesce multidisciplinary programs that have remarkable potential for improving our understanding and thereby treatment of a host of now devastating illnesses.”
Dr. Oxford has been on faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1976. He was named a professor in 1988 in the Department of Physiology and in 1998 was honored with the rank of Distinguished Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology.
Along with his research endeavors, Dr. Oxford directs the University of North Carolina’s Neurobiology Curriculum. He holds membership in numerous professional societies and was president of the Society of General Physiologists, the primary professional society representing research on the physiology and biophysics of ion channels. He serves on several editorial boards for professional journals and is a section editor of Sensory Neuron.
Dr. Oxford graduated cum laude from Elon College and completed his doctorate in physiology at Emory University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacology at Duke University.
His research interests for the past 20 years have focused on electrophysiological and molecular studies of single cells to investigate the interplay between various neurotransmitter receptors, ion channels and cell signaling pathways that regulate neurosecretory functions and pain sensation in the nervous system.