- Membership & Community
-
Publications & News
- Journals
-
Newsroom
-
The Physiologist Magazine
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2023
-
Mentoring Forum
- Net Worth
- Take Care
- You … In Charge
- Work. It. Out.
- Working Off-site
- Location, Location, Location?
- Student Support
- Progressing to Postdoc
- Relationship Building
- Let’s Get It Started
- What Do We Value?
- It’s a Postdoc Life
- Coronavirus Contributions
- Creative Communications
- Selection Process
- Conference Connections
- Postdoc Appreciation
- Research Rewards
- Focus on Teaching
- Industry Insights
- Balance Beam
- Post Postdoc
- If You Build It
- Talk It Through
- Forward Bound
- I’ve Earned My PhD. Now What?
- Mentoring Q&A
- The Physiologist Magazine Readers Survey
- Evolution
- Baseline by Scott Steen, CAE, FASAE
- Find Us on Social Media
-
The Physiologist Magazine
-
Professional Development
-
Meetings & Events
-
American Physiology Summit
- Abstracts
- Dates and Deadlines
- Mobile App
- Physical Poster Information
- PhysioHub
- American Physiology Summit Program
- Registration
- Speaker Audiovisual Instructions
- Summit FAQs
- Summit Newsroom
- Liability Waiver
- APS 2024 Call for Proposals
- Industry Partners
- Scientific Integrity Policy
-
2023
- APS 2023 Call for Proposals
- Women in Physiology Networking Mixer Registration
- Career Networking Lunch Form
- NIH Program Officer Panel Discussion Form
- Shocklogic Test
- Team 2023 Task Force
- Summit Industry Partners
- Shaping the Summit
- Schedule at a Glance
- Pre-Summit Events
- Pre-Summit Center for Physiology Education Workshop Registration
- Section & Groups Banquet Tickets
- Undergraduate Program Book
- Travel & Transportation
- Summit Store
- Pre-Summit Center for Physiology Education Workshop
- Press Registration
- Meet the Organizers
- Keynote Speaker—Terrie Williams, PhD
- Keynote Speaker—David Julius, PhD
- Industry Workshop Information
- Important Dates and Deadlines
- Hotel Information
- Game Changers
- Distinguished Lecturers
- Building APS 2023
- Awards at the Summit
- 2023 Summit Information
- Webinars
- Related Meetings
- Future APS Conferences
-
Past APS Conferences
- APS Institute on Teaching and Learning
- Integrative Physiology of Exercise
- Seventeenth International Conference on Endothelin (ET-17)
- New Trends in Sex and Gender Medicine
- APS Institute on Teaching and Learning (2022)
- Control of Renal Function in Health and Disease Conference
- Comparative Physiology: From Organisms to Omics in an Uncertain World
- Experimental Biology
- Conference Policies
-
American Physiology Summit
- Awards
-
Career & Professional Development
-
Career Gateway
-
Resources
- Transcript—Leading Through Conflict and Difficult Conversations
- Transcript—Managing Conflict with Colleagues
- Transcript—Leading a Team Through Conflict
- Transcript—Providing Difficult Feedback
- Transcript—Team Dynamics and Culture Primer
- Transcript—Building a Team
- Transcript—Leading a Team Assigned to You
- Transcript—Creating a Team Culture
-
Resources
- Career Navigator
- Center for Physiology Education
- Job Board
- Professional Skills Training Courses
- Medical Physiology Refreshers
- Mentoring
- APS Graduate Physiology & Biomedical Science Catalog
-
Career Gateway
-
Meetings & Events
-
Advocacy & Resources
- Policy Areas
-
Resources
- Researcher Resources
- Educator Resources
- Trainee Resources
- Student Resources
-
APS Graduate Physiology & Biomedical Science Catalog
- Augusta University
- Brandeis University
- Chatham University
- Des Moines University
- East Tennessee State University
- George Washington University
- Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
- Marquette University
- Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences—Biomedical Engineering & Physiology
- Medical College of Wisconsin
- Michigan State University
- New York Medical College
- Nova Southeastern University
- Pennsylvania State University
- Saint Louis University
- Southern Illinois University
- Texas A&M University
- Texas A&M University Medical Physiology
- Stony Brook University
- The University of Iowa
- The University of Mississippi Medical Center
- The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC)
- The University of Texas at Arlington
- University of Alabama at Birmingham
- University at Buffalo
- University of Colorado
- University of Delaware
- University of Florida
- University of Louisville
- University of Michigan
- University of Minnesota
- University of Missouri-Biomedical Sciences
- University of Nebraska Medical Center
- University of New Mexico
- University of Oregon
- University of South Carolina School of Medicine
- University of Texas Health Science Center
- Wayne State University
- Wake Forest University
- Physiology Department Catalog Submission Form
- Career Gateway
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Advocacy
- About APS

APS members are doing amazing things. We asked Gary Sieck, PhD, FAPS—one of our esteemed member-researchers—to tell us about his research and its implications on our understanding of life and health. He also shares how he’s been able to marry science with his other interests to build a career filled with curiosity and discovery.
What do you do? Describe your work for a lay audience.
My research focuses on the neural control of the diaphragm muscle, which is the major pump moving air into our lungs during breathing. The neural control of the diaphragm is finely tuned to meet the wide-ranging ventilatory demands of our bodies throughout life.
Give it context. If all goes well, how will your work benefit humanity or our understanding of life?
In sustaining ventilation and life itself, the diaphragm muscle is a pump that cannot fail, like the heart. But, unlike the heart, force (pressure) generation by the diaphragm is under neural control. The diaphragm pump must function at birth, but the ventilatory demands on this essential pump change during our life span and under disease conditions. My research explores how the diaphragm adapts to life demands and pathophysiology. In addition to breathing, pressure generation by the diaphragm muscle also serves other vital functions such as airway clearance and voiding behaviors. In this respect, dysfunction of the diaphragm can underlie many other disease symptoms such as respiratory tract infection.
What outside of science inspires you? Describe your passion.
Throughout my life, I have been very fortunate to be able to seize opportunities and pursue my curiosity whether directed toward science (physiology) or other areas, such as traveling and history. I have had many opportunities come my way, so I’ve been very fortunate. As a research scientist, I’ve been able to combine my interests by traveling throughout the world, giving talks, making friends, pursuing collaborations, exploring different cultures and learning about their history. The bottom line is that I have a passion for learning and mentoring. I think overall I would rather be known as a great teacher than a great scientist.
Gary Sieck, PhD, FAPS, is the Vernon F. and Earline D. Dale Professor and a Distinguished Mayo Investigator in the department of physiology and biomedical engineering at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He’s been an APS member since 1976.