Froehner to chair Physiology & Biophysics

Dr. Stanley C. Froehner has been named professor and chair of the School of Medicine’s Department of Physiology and Biophysics.

Froehner is joining the UW from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is chair of the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology. He studies the regulation of ion channel distribution at the neuromuscular junction and in the central nervous system and the molecular mechanisms of muscle degeneration that cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

While at Chapel Hill, Froehner chaired a committee that established the UNC Neuroscience Center. He helped establish mouse neurogenetics at UNC and played a key role in obtaining federal funds for a new neuroscience building.

A native of Gonzales County, Texas, Froehner was an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin and received a Ph.D. in biochemistry and neurophysiology from the California Institute of Technology in 1973.

Founded in 1947, the UW department is a cornerstone of medical research. From the laboratories of approximately 30 faculty have come fundamental contributions to the understanding of the nervous system, the cardiovascular system, ion channels, endocrinology, and respiration.

Froehner succeeds Dr. Wayne Crill, who had chaired the department since 1983. Dr. Albert Berger served as acting chair in the interim. ¶