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Harold Schultz, PhD, FAPS

University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine

Harold D. Schultz, PhD, FAPS, is a professor in the Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Medicine. He is also chair of the APS Chapter Advisory Committee and has been an APS member since 1981.

APS members are doing amazing things. We asked Harold Schultz, PhD, FAPS—one of our esteemed member-researchers—to tell us about his work and its implications on our understanding of life and health. He also shares why he feels he was predestined to be a physiologist and his passion for connecting physiologists on a local level.

Tell us about your research.

I am a professor of physiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center where I have worked for 32 years. My career has been devoted to cardiorespiratory research, teaching and support of physiology.

My research focuses on the role of the sympathetic nervous system on the progression of heart failure and hypertension. Our studies have shown that neural activity from oxygen-sensing endings in the carotid artery contribute reflexively to sympathetic neural stress on the heart and abnormal breathing in heart failure. When these chemoreceptor endings are inhibited, cardio-respiratory function is improved with increased survival. These studies have directed new translational interest in therapeutic approaches toward normalizing this chemoreflex function in cardiovascular disease.

Give it context.

Sympathetic neural over-activation plays a major role in the progression of cardio-renal dysfunction in cardiovascular disease. Traditional therapies have focused on interrupting this overactivity at efferent adrenergic receptors (e.g. b blockers) or blocking the renin-angiotensin limb of sympathetic activation (e.g. ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers).

Our work has helped to focus attention on the causes of sympathetic activation and the primary importance of abnormal autonomic sensory reflexes. Prior to our work, arterial chemoreflexes were thought to function mainly in the control of breathing for oxygen homeostasis. Our work, along with other renewed interest, has shown that chemoreflexes play an important functional role in the control of the sympathetic nervous system.

If you could do anything else, what would it be? Describe your passion.

I grew up on a farm where I learned a lot about animal physiology without realizing that is what it was called. Getting a PhD in physiology just seemed predestined. Veterinary medicine may have been an alternative career, but I am certain that the end result would still have been an academic setting doing research. I have always seen myself as a professional student.

Besides research, I enjoy devoting time to APS and affiliated geographical chapters. I have served on APS Council, and I am currently the chair of the Chapter Advisory Committee. Chapters are an important grassroots outreach to other life scientists and to aspiring youth to promote physiological approaches to research and career opportunities. My ultimate goal would be to have APS-affiliated chapters in all 50 states.