UAMS Holds Inaugural Investiture for Chair in Gerontologic Research

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – Robert J. Shmookler Reis, D.Phil., internationally known for pioneering research into molecular genetics of aging and longevity, was formally invested today as the inaugural recipient of the Kodetthoor Bhaskara Udupa, Ph.D., Chair in Gerontologic Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).


 


Reis, a professor in the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics as well as the departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Medicine, and Pharmacology & Toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine, has explored the aging process for more than 30 years and the connection between cancer and aging for more than 15 years.


 


Also a research chemist in the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Reis holds three major federal grants and is serving as lead investigator on a five-year, $5 million study into the metabolic changes associated with living longer.


 


Udupa established this endowed chair with surplus grant funding he received over a multi-year time period. The endowment will promote research in the field of aging and health issues associated with the aging process.


 


“This endowment is a fitting honor for Dr. Reis, who has channeled his passion for extending the period of healthful vigor and reducing late-life disability into visionary research,” said David Lipschitz, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of the Institute on Aging. “We are thankful for the generosity and foresight of Dr. Udupa, whose careful use of funds enabled them to be used in a way that will benefit research into perpetuity.”


 


Reis graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He was awarded a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation to study at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. There he studied genetics and earned a doctor of philosophy degree under Professor John Maynard Smith, a world-renowned geneticist and evolutionary biologist.


 


He pursued postdoctoral research training at the University of California at San Diego and in the Mammalian Genome Unit at the University of Edinburgh. In 1980, Reis and the late Samuel Goldstein, M.D., Ph.D., were recruited to UAMS from McMaster University Medical Center in Canada. At UAMS they conducted ground-breaking research on the fundamental mechanisms of cellular aging.


 


Reis’ research has explored how normal cells transform into immortal cell lines and progressively acquire other characteristics of cancer cells. His group was the first to identify the primary class of mutations responsible for the cellular changes leading to cancer.


 


His current grant-funded research includes work to define a set of biomarkers that predict future longevity in young organisms of four different species. These studies should also offer new insights into mechanisms that regulate life span.


 


Udupa is a professor in the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatrics and the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the UAMS College of Medicine. He is a research scientist in the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System who earned his master’s degree in nuclear physics from Banaras Hindu University in India and later a doctor of philosophy degree in biophysics from Calcutta University.


 


Udupa is the principal investigator for a multi-million dollar study, funded by Robert Wood Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, into a hormone administered frequently to dialysis and cancer patients to regulate red blood cell production. He is seeking a way to keep the hormone in circulation for a longer time to reduce the number of necessary injections.


 


An endowed chair is the highest academic honor that can be bestowed by a university on its faculty. A chair can honor the memory of a loved one or may honor a person’s accomplishments. It is supported with designated gifts of $1 million or more.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has more than 2,200 students and 660 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.1 billion a year.


 


UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.