Patricia Molina Nationally Honored for Distinguished Service
Leslie Capo, Director of Information Services
Patricia Molina, MD, PhD, Professor and Head of the Department of Physiology and Director
of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center of Excellence at LSU Health New Orleans School
of Medicine, is the Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology’s 2022 Distinguished
Service Awardee.
According to the ACDP, the “Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to someone who has given long and illustrious service to ACDP, physiology as a discipline, and/or the field of science in general. The awardee is selected by the president in consultation with ACDP Council. The award was formally known as the Outstanding Teaching Award, but in 1978, its focus and name were expanded to the current Distinguished Service Award.”
Dr. Molina completed her MD training at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, Central America. She then pursued a PhD in Physiology at LSU Health New Orleans under the mentorship of Dr. John J. Spitzer, presenting her dissertation on “Ethanol-endotoxin interaction with carbohydrate metabolism.” Her postdoctoral experience at Vanderbilt University was supported by a National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Minority Supplement Grant under the mentorship of Dr. Naji N. Abumrad. She progressed through the academic ranks initially as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Physiology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook and subsequently as Director of Surgical Research at North Shore University Hospital. During that period, she held a Guest Scientist appointment at Brookhaven National Laboratory before joining the Department of Physiology at LSU Health New Orleans as an Associate Professor. She obtained tenure and promotion to the rank of Professor, and then was named the Richard Ashman, PhD Professor in Physiology. In September 2008, Dr. Molina was appointed Physiology Department Head.
Dr. Molina’s research has been funded continuously since completing her doctorate. She has mentored undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral trainees. Dr. Molina is a member of the faculty of the School of Graduate Studies, the Graduate Education Committee in Physiology, the Graduate Advisory Council, and is a mentor for the LSU Health New Orleans Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. Externally, Dr. Molina is the Chair of the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse and the Past President of the American Physiological Society.
The ACDP is an organization of chairs and leaders of departments or programs in medical schools, undergraduate colleges, osteopathic schools, veterinary schools, and dental schools whose faculty are involved in the research and teaching of physiology in all its various forms.