30 years in 30 minutes: integrating imaging, cell and developmental biology with teaching and service (341.1)

The American Association of Anatomists (AAA) has been integral in my education and academic career. I was trained as a developmental biologist and anatomist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. K Sue O’Shea was my mentor and Dr. William K. Metcalf was my departmental chair. As students we were expected to be competent in teaching all anatomy disciplines. My introduction to the AAA was the Omaha, NE annual meeting in 1980. I also met my postdoctoral advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Hay at the Indianapolis meeting (1982) and interviewed with Dr. Allen Peters for my first professorship at the Reno meeting (1986). I’ve taught medical and dental students Gross Anatomy, Histology and Human Development at Harvard, Boston University School of Medicine and Baylor College of Dentistry. In parallel, my research used morphological (TEM, SEM and LM), biochemical and molecular biology approaches to investigate signal transduction pathways controlling developmental processes and cell biology of adult tissues. The AAA has been my home society since my graduate student days in the 80’s through my current senior faculty career. In this talk I will illustrate how the AAA was the glue that held my career together with good friends, great science and networking.