Nicholas A. Flavahan

Dr. NICHOLAS A. FLAVAHAN, the inaugural Edward D. Miller, M.D. Professor of Anesthesiology Research, has had a distinguished biomedical career. He obtained his PhD in cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology in 1983 at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, United Kingdom. He then joined the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as a Mayo Foundation senior research fellow and was appointed assistant professor of pharmacology at the Mayo Clinic in 1987. Dr. Flavahan stayed at the Mayo Clinic until 1989 when he joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as assistant professor of medicine and was promoted to associate professor of medicine in 1991. In 1997, he was recruited to The Ohio State University to help create the Heart and Lung Research Institute where he was deputy director of the institute as well as professor of internal medicine, physiology and cell biology. In September of 2006, Dr. Flavahan returned to The Johns Hopkins University where he was appointed professor, director of research and vice chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine.

Dr. Flavahan is one of the world’s top molecular vascular pharmacologists. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has been funded continuously by the NIH for more than 20 years. Among many firsts, he discovered the molecular mechanisms underlying cold-induced vasoconstriction in the cutaneous circulation and its contribution to normal physiology and vascular disease. Dr. Flavahan has also been an effective teacher and mentor, with many of trainees advancing to leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry and academic medicine.

Since returning to Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Flavahan has had a dramatic influence on the research activity of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, revamping the infrastructure for conducting basic clinical and translational research, redefining mechanisms for scientific interaction, reorganizing and facilitating the grant submission process, and providing structured and transparent mechanisms for young trainees and junior faculty to achieve independence and career advancement.