Frye Named Joseph H. Shelton Professor in Clinical Pharmacology

For Immediate Release
November 11, 2003
Frye-Shelton Professorship
Contact: John Holder (979) 458-0669
Office of Communications
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center
http://tamushsc.edu
Frye Named Joseph H. Shelton Professor in Clinical Pharmacology
Gerald D. Frye, Ph.D., professor in the department of pharmacology and toxicology at The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine, has been named Joseph H. Shelton Professor in Clinical Pharmacology at the College of Medicine. The Joseph H. Shelton Professorship was the first endowed professorship established at the College of Medicine, set up by Robert R. Shelton ’58 in 1977 in memory of his father, Joseph Harrison Shelton, who was a medical doctor.
Dr. Frye is an outstanding scholar in the field of neurotoxicology of alcohol and drug dependence. His work focuses on how alcohol and related drugs of abuse disrupt cellular level neurotransmitter signaling to cause central nervous system dysfunction, which is involved in alcohol tolerance, dependence and the fetal alcohol syndrome. His research has been published in 79 papers and 85 abstracts, and has been presented at 125 scientific meetings, symposia and seminars.
Dr. Frye’s laboratory has received support from the National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), as well as the North Carolina Alcoholism Research Authority (NCARA) and the March of Dimes. He has been honored with a NCARA Predoctoral Traineeship and a postdoctoral fellowship and Research Scientist Career Development Award from NIH-NIAAA.
Department Head and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology George Chiou, Ph.D., remarks: “I was very pleased to recommend Dr. Frye for this distinguished position. Dr. Frye was recommended to occupy this endowed professorship in view of his lifetime outstanding contribution to his research on alcoholism. His studies on the neurotoxicology of alcohol and drug dependence have attracted national and international attention. His research benefits millions of people who are addicted to alcohol. I feel very fortunate to have had Dr. Frye working in our department for the past 20 years.”
Dr. Frye himself states, “I am extremely honored to have been selected for this award by my colleagues in the College of Medicine. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism remain significant problems in society. I hope that in some small way our research will bring us closer to finding better treatments to prevent the many devastating consequences of this illness. This endowment will provide important assistance for our future research efforts.”
After completing his undergraduate training in Biology at Virginia Tech University, Dr. Frye pursued a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and completed postdoctoral training in Neuropharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Center for Alcohol Studies at UNC before joining the faculty of the A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in 1983.
Dr. Frye teaches and coordinates courses for undergraduate, graduate and medical students and has served as committee member or mentor for some 32 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He has served on several NIH study sections and also evaluated grant proposals for the Veterans Administration Merit Review, NSF, NCARA and the Welcome Trust. He has chaired Texas A&M University’s Faculty of Neuroscience, the Medicine Tenure and Faculty Promotion, Graduate Instruction and M.D./Ph.D. Training Committees, and has served as caucus leader of the College of Medicine’s delegation to the Texas A&M University Faculty Senate and president of A&M’s Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience.
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its five components located in communities throughout Texas are Baylor College of Dentistry, the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and the School of Rural Public Health.
-30-