APS Board of Directors

APS is governed by an elected Board of Directors. The Board includes the president, the immediate past president, and president-elect, each serving a one-year term. The treasurer serves a three-year term. One member is selected by the Advisory Council for a one-year term, with an option to renew for a second year. In addition, nine elected board members serve staggered three-year terms, with three members rotating off the Board each year. Newly elected officers begin their terms at the end of the Society’s annual meeting each spring. The Society’s CEO serves as the Board’s secretary and is a non-voting ex-officio board member. 

The Board meets three times a year: at the Society’s annual meeting in the spring, following the society leadership retreat in the summer, and in the fall. Between meetings, the executive committee (president, president-elect, immediate past president, treasurer and secretary/CEO) meets on an ad hoc basis to review and implement policies. 

2026 APS Board of Directors

Sue C. Bodine, PhD, FAPS, FIUPS 
President
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation 

Sue Bodine, PhD, is a professor in the Aging and Metabolism Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and a research biologist at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center. Bodine was awarded the APS Environmental and Exercise Physiology Section’s Edward F. Adolph Distinguished Lectureship in 2019 and the Section's Honor Award in 2021. She has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Physiology and as associate editor for the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism and the American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology. Bodine is an executive editor for Function and on the editorial board of Physiological Reviews. 

Robert L. Hester, PhD, FAPS
Immediate Past President
University of Mississippi Medical Center

Robert L. Hester, PhD, FAPS, is the Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor and a professor of physiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Hester has served APS as past chair of the Joint Programming Committee and the Cardiovascular Section. He has been a member of the Section Advisory, Education and Science Policy committees and was chair of the Experimental Biology Board. Hester is an associate editor of the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology and a section editor of Comprehensive Physiology. His current research is focused on computer simulation of integrative physiology.

Lacy Alexander, PhD, FAPS
President-elect
Pennsylvania State University

Lacy Alexander, PhD, FAPS, is a professor of kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University. She has served the Society as a former chair of the Environmental & Exercise Physiology Section, a past editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Physiology and as an APS Council member. Alexander’s research focuses on mechanisms of vascular dysfunction related to traditional and nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Paul Welling, MD
Treasurer
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Paul Welling, MD, is the Joseph S. and Esther Handler Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. He is renowned for his research on molecular underpinnings of potassium-sodium balance, electrolyte disorders and hypertension. Welling is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association of American Physicians. He has served in numerous leadership roles, including two terms as chair of the Society's Finance Committee and chair of the Epithelial Transport Interest Group Steering Committee.

Erika Shugart, PhD, FAAAS
Secretary and Chief Executive Officer
American Physiological Society

Erika Shugart, PhD, FAAAS, was appointed CEO of the American Physiological Society in March 2026. Previously, Shugart was CEO for the National Science Teaching Association and the American Society for Cell Biology and served as director of communications and marketing strategy at the American Society for Microbiology. She is also principal of Erika Shugart Consulting, a firm that supports nonprofit leadership through strategic planning, governance improvement, team building and association management.

Kirsteen Browning, PhD, FAPS
Board Member
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

Kirsteen Browning, PhD, FAPS, is a professor of neural and behavioral science at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. Her past leadership experience at APS has included serving as the Central Nervous System Section Awards Committee chair, programming representative and section chair. She is the current chair of the Scientific Program Committee. Browning’s research examines brainstem control of autonomic functions, particularly vagal control of gastrointestinal functions across the lifespan, from maternal influences on development of brainstem neurocircuits to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

Robert A. Fenton, PhD
Board Member
Aarhus University, Denmark

Robert Fenton, PhD, received his degree in physiology from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and completed his postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. He is a professor at Aarhus University, Denmark. Fenton is internationally recognized as a leader in kidney pathophysiology and epithelial cell biology with his interdisciplinary research sitting at the interface between basic and clinical science. Fenton has published 210 peer-reviewed articles and 15 textbook chapters, leading to over 13,000 citations and an h-index of 66. He has mentored over 80 researchers and is a strong advocate for training the next generation of physiologists.

Julie Freed, MD, PhD
Board Member
Clinical & Translational Research Institute at the Medical College of Wisconsin

Julie Freed, MD, PhD, is a senior associate dean and director of the Clinical & Translational Research Institute at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She has served the Society in multiple roles, including past chair of the Translational Physiology Interest Group and current chair of the Cardiovascular Section. Freed’s research focuses on microvascular dysfunction at the intersection of vascular biology and cardiovascular disease.

L. Bruce Gladden, PhD, FAPS
Board Member
Auburn University

L. Bruce Gladden, PhD, FAPS, is a professor of Kinesiology at Auburn University. His leadership in the Society includes having served as a former chair of the Environmental & Exercise Physiology Section. Gladden’s research area is exercise bioenergetics and lactate exchange and mitochondrial activation during exercise.

Patricia A. Halpin, PhD, FAPS
Board Member
University of New Hampshire

Patricia A. Halpin, PhD, FAPS, is a professor of biology and biotechnology at the University of New Hampshire. She was trained as a renal physiologist and is now an education researcher. She served on the Center for Physiology Education Advisory Board. Halpin is also a member and past chair of the Teaching of Physiology Section. An early adopter of online learning, she uses face-to-face, online and blended modalities to teach a variety of courses.

My Helms, PhD
Board Member
University of Utah

My Helms, PhD, is an associate professor with tenure at the University of Utah pursuing mechanistic studies in epithelial transport biology. She is chair of the Cell and Molecular Physiology Section Postdoctoral Review Committee. Helms is also a member of Cell Section’s Research Host Contact List, Social Media Admins and Summit-CAMPS committees. She is the past chair of the Cell & Molecular Physiology Section Steering Committee. Helms mentors the next generation of scientists to become independent investigators.

Kathleen (Katie) S. Hering-Smith, PhD
Advisory Council Representative
Tulane University School of Medicine

Katie Hering-Smith, MS, PhD, is an associate professor at Tulane School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology. She has mentored students in her lab along with teaching physiology to graduate and medical students. She has served as the secretary, chair and is the past chair of the Renal Section Steering Committee. In addition to serving on the APS Advisory Council, Hering-Smith is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology and is the chair of the APS Section Advisory Committee.

Beth A. McCormick, PhD
Board Member
UMass Chan Medical School

Beth McCormick, PhD, is a professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems at UMass Chan Medical School. McCormick is an internationally renowned gastrointestinal physiologist and has been an active participant in APS activities for nearly 20 years. She has served as secretary-treasurer of the APS Gastrointestinal & Liver Physiology Section, an editorial board member for the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, and an organizer of plenary sessions at APS conferences. She was the 2023 Gastrointestinal & Liver Physiology Section Distinguished Lecturer.

Farah Sheikh, PhD, FCVS, FAHA
Board Member
University of California San Diego

Farah Sheikh, PhD, is a professor at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). As an accomplished cardiovascular physiologist, she has launched multiple biotech startups, translating groundbreaking discoveries from bench to bedside. Her research interests focus on genetic cardiac disease and gene therapy. Sheikh is director of UCSD’s Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and serves as a Health Science Faculty Equity advisor. She has also served in leadership roles within the American Heart Association and APS.

Michael Sturek, MS, PhD, FAPS
Board Member
CorVus Biomedical, LLC and CorVus Foundation

Mike Sturek, MS, PhD, FAPS, is chief scientific officer at CorVus Biomedical, LLC. He also holds adjunct professor positions in biomedical engineering at Purdue University and in preclinical physiology and molecular imaging at the University of Southern Denmark. Previously, he was in academia for 35 years, rising from assistant professor of physiology at the University of Missouri to department chair at Indiana University. Sturek has been an APS member for 42 years.