As a result of a longtime, long-distance research collaboration, Gabor Tigyi, MD, PhD, professor of physiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has received a prestigious appointment at the premier research university in Taiwan.
Dr. Tigyi, the new associate vice chancellor for Research and Industry Relations at UTHSC, was recently named a Distinguished Chair Professor with the Center of Biotechnology at National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei.
The overseas honor stems from his collaborative research with Hsinyu Lee, PhD, professor and director of the Office of International Academic Exchanges of the College of Life Science in the Department of Life Science at National Taiwan University. Drs. Tigyi and Lee published a paper earlier this year in Scientific Reports, a journal from the publishers of Nature, on a lipid mediator that enhances production of blood cells.
Dr. Tigyi, formerly the chair of Physiology at UTHSC, spent two weeks teaching students and faculty at NTU, and plans to continue and expand the research collaboration. He will return to Taipei periodically to teach and consult.
“It’s certainly a very distinguished recognition, because they only have one scientist a year to be selected,” Dr. Tigyi said of the NTU professorship. “What I enjoyed the most is the enthusiasm of the students I interacted with. NTU really caters to the top talent. Having the opportunity to work with these students, was just an exhilarating experience.”
Dr. Tigyi said NTU is exploring the possibility of expanding its international student fellowship program to UTHSC. “They provide support to students to spend time in a foreign laboratory, and we are currently working on getting my laboratory at UTHSC as a host for students and postdocs in the future,” he said.