Nobel Laureate, Prestigious Award Recipients to Speak at American Physiology Summit

Conference program includes game-changer sessions highlighting vital issues affecting health

Rockville, Md. (April 3, 2025)—Nobel Laureate James Rothman, PhD; Holly A. Ingraham, PhD, FASEB’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement awardee; and George A. Brooks, PhD, FAPS, the American Physiological Society’s (APS) 2025 Walter Cannon Award recipient, are among the highlighted speakers who will attend the American Physiology Summit. The Summit, APS’ flagship annual meeting, will be held April 24–27 in Baltimore.

Nobel Laureate James Rothman, PhD, is the Sterling Professor of Cell Biology at Yale University. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013 for his groundbreaking research on vesicle trafficking. Rothman will give the Summit’s opening keynote address, “New Insights into Basic Mechanisms of Synaptic Neurotransmission,” at 4:15 p.m. EDT, on April 24, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Read more about Rothman.

Holly A. Ingraham, PhD, is the Herzstein Endowed Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the 2024 recipient of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Excellence in Science Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes her pioneering work on sex differences and hormone-responsive nodes in the brain and peripheral tissues that maintain metabolic, skeletal, and gut physiology in females. One of the Summit’s closing keynote speakers, Ingraham will speak on “How Brain-body Crosstalk Sculpts Facets of Female Physiology” on April 27. Read more about Ingraham.

George A. Brooks, PhD, FAPS, is a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkley, where his extensive body of research focuses on understanding of the pathways and controls of how lactate is produced and cleared before, during and after exercise. Brooks is the Society’s 2025 Physiology in Perspective Walter B. Cannon Award recipient, which recognizes a lifetime of dedication to advancing physiology. He will give the closing keynote presentation “Lactate Shuttles and Carbohydrate Carbon Flow” on April 27. Read more about Brooks.

The Summit’s scientific program will also feature eight game-changer sessions highlighting some of the biggest topics affecting life and health today. Top scientists from around the world will discuss these vital issues.

The game-changer sessions are:

The Risks and Rewards of GLP-1 Agonists Beyond Diabetes
Experts will discuss how GLP-1 agonists—originally designed to combat diabetes and obesity—are now being investigated for their potential to improve cardiovascular function and reduce opioid addiction. 

Breakthroughs in Xenotransplantation
This session will explore recent advancements and address significant challenges in xenotransplantation—the use of organs from non-human animals, primarily pigs—as a potential solution to the organ shortage crisis.

Bioelectric Medicine: Neural Modulation of Central and Peripheral Function
Scientists will highlight state-of-the art research using electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve or spinal cord to modulate central and peripheral organ function, and behavior in health and disease.

Unlocking Longevity through Advances in Nutrition, Exercise and Epigenetics
This session will highlight new and emerging areas in nutrition, exercise and epigenetics and their influence on the physiology of longevity. 

Unraveling the Link between Maternal Behaviors and Offspring Disease
Researchers will present new findings from basic and clinical research that show how maternal behaviors may affect health outcomes in offspring.

Circadian Rhythm's Impact on Sleep and Health
Scientists will discuss how sleep and circadian rhythms interact to influence physiological health, homeostasis and human disease.

Discoveries at the Intersection of Inflammation and Immunology
Talks will delve into the cutting-edge intersections of ecoimmunology, the microbiome and immune cell membrane physiology.

The Science Behind Breathwork and Why it Matters
Experts in the field of respiration will explore the mechanisms through which controlled breathing (breathwork) reduces anxiety and inflammation.

View the Summit’s program by day for preconference and session highlights.

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: For more information, please contact APS Media Relations or call 301.634.7314. Find research highlights in the APS Newsroom. 

Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. The American Physiological Society connects a global, multidisciplinary community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators as part of its mission to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health. The Society drives collaboration and spotlights scientific discoveries through its 16 scholarly journals and programming that support researchers and educators in their work.