James W. Hicks, Ph.D.
I believe that it is important to articulate the power of comparative and evolutionary physiology and to point out that these approaches are not mutually exclusive to biomedical sciences. Comparative and evolutionary physiology, at its most basic level, seeks to discover how animals work, and, most importantly, why animals work the way they do. These two seemingly straightforward questions have far-reaching implications and require a variety of investigative approaches. The comparative physiologist is challenged to determine the details of physiological mechanisms while simultaneously gaining insights into ultimate causation, i.e. the evolutionary or adaptive significance of a physiological process or trait. This manifold focus on proximal mechanism and ultimate causality requires that comparative and evolutionary physiologists bring to their investigations a diversity of analytical approaches and to effectively integrate molecular, cellular, organismal, morphological, biomechanical, biophysical, ecological and evolutionary information.
Profile
Professor
Director-Center for Exercise Medicine and Sport Sciences
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
School of Biological Sciences
Education
B.A. (Biology), California State University, Fullerton, CA, 1977.
M.S. (Biology), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 1979.
Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences/Physiology), School of Medicine, Univ of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 1984.
Post Doctoral Fellow, Abteilung Physiologie, Max Planck Institute fur Experimentelle Medizin, Gottingen, Germany 1984-1985
Post Doctoral Fellow, Physiological Research Lab, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, 1986-1987
Honors/Awards
Morris F. Miller Faculty Development Award, Health Futures Foundation, 1988
Young Investigator Award, School of Medicine, Creighton University, 1991
Excellence in Teaching, School of Biological Sciences, UCI 1999-2000
Editor-in-Chief (2001-2009), Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
Chair, Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Section, American Physiological Society (2004-2007)
Council Member, American Physiological Society (2007--2009)
Chair-Elect, Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, Society for Integtrative and Comparative Biology (2010--2012)
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS-Elected, November, 2008
August Krogh Distinguished Lectureship, American Physiological Society, April 2012
Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Scientiarum Honorais Causa, dr.scient.h.c.)- University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark--Sept 2012
Fellow of the American Physiological Society-2015
Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences--2019
contact
e-mail: jhicks@uci.edu
office phone: (949) 824-6386
Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology
