Dr. Joey Granger, Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor of physiology and biophysics, is the 2016 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award winner for the University of Mississippi.
“I am deeply honored to have received this recognition and am humbled to be in such a distinguished group of faculty scholars,” Granger said. “I also appreciate the SEC for their recognition of scholarly activity as an integral part of SEC universities.”
To be eligible for the SEC Faculty Achievement Award, an individual must be a teacher or scholar at an SEC university, have achieved the rank of full professor, have a record of extraordinary teaching and have a record of scholarship that is recognized nationally and/or internationally.
A graduate of the UM School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences, Granger joined the faculty in 1990. His research focus has been on preeclampsia, a dangerous but poorly understood complication of pregnancy. His interests include the mechanisms linking placental ischemia and cardiovascular dysfunction in preeclampsia and identifying potential drug targets for preeclampsia treatments. Granger's research has been continuously funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute since 1985.
Granger is dedicated to training the next generation of biomedical scientists by mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. He is the principal investigator of the Medical Center's NHLBI Institutional Training Grant for hypertension and cardiorenal diseases research.
Granger is dean of the UM School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences and director of the Cardiovascular Renal Research Center. He served as the 2012 American Physiological Society president.
“Dr. Granger contributes to the legacy of leadership at UMMC that began with Dr. Arthur Guyton,” Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter said. “His pioneering work in understanding hypertension is paving the way for life-saving technologies and new treatment approaches. Dr. Granger is a great example of the value of outstanding faculty and academic research to our state and nation.”
Granger adds the sweet ingredients to make the bread pudding for his school's annual Holiday Open House.
“Dr. Granger is not only a distinguished scientist and teacher widely respected by his peers and loved by his students, he has been a strong leader of our School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences for many years,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UM vice chancellor for health affairs. “And the crawfish etouffee, seafood gumbo and bread pudding he makes for his school's annual holiday party are second to none.”
Selected by a committee of SEC provosts, the SEC Faculty Achievement Awards and the SEC Professor of the Year Award are part of SECU, the academic initiative of the Southeastern Conference, which sponsors, supports and promotes collaborative higher education programs and activities involving administrators, faculty and students at its 14 member universities.
SEC Faculty Achievement Award winners receive a $5,000 honorarium from the conference and become his or her university's nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year Award. The SEC Professor of the Year, to be named in April, receives an additional $15,000 honorarium and will be recognized at the SEC Awards Dinner.
Granger is the second UM Medical Center physiology faculty member in three years to win the award. Dr. John Hall, Arthur C. Guyton Professor and chair, was recognized as UM's SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner in 2014 SEC and was later named SEC Professor of the Year.
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