Career Coog 

Faculty Member, Department Chair Eikenburg Appointed Professor Emeritus Upon Retirement of Lifelong Career at UHCOP

June XX --UH College of Pharmacy's Douglas C. Eikenburg, Ph.D., was awarded Professor Emeritus status by the UH System Board of Regents ahead of his June 1 retirement from a lifelong career spanning more than 40 years in research, education and administrative roles at the college.

Eikenburg joined the college in 1979 as a postdoctoral research associate fresh from completing his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Michigan State University. He joined the college's Pharmacology faculty two years later. In 1986, he received the prestigious Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association (AHA) and almost simultaneously his first National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant.

In 1987, he was promoted to associate professor and in 1995 was appointed chair of the recently formed Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He served as chair until he stepped down to place greater focus on his research in 2005. Five years later, Eikenburg was appointed interim chair of the department, then served in the permanent role from 2011 until his retirement.

Eikenburg's research focused on G protein-coupled receptor signaling regulation as contributing mechanisms to cardiovascular and neurological diseases related to stress and stress susceptibility. His research was supported by such organizations as the NIH, the AHA, and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. He authored or coauthored nearly 50 peer-reviewed papers in such publications as the British Journal of Pharmacology (BJP), Hypertension, and the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, as well as presented more than 60 abstracts at national and international scientific meetings.

During his career, Eikenburg served as faculty advisor or supervisor for nearly a dozen graduate students or postdoctoral researchers. He was instrumental in the development of several courses, including drug literature review, scientific writing and pharmacodynamics, and taught numerous sections of courses in the college's doctoral and professional degree programs.

Eikenburg served on or chaired a variety of committees and councils within the college and across the university, tasked with such duties as faculty searches, graduate education, graduate and professional studies, curriculum, environmental/physical safety, animal care and the scholarship golf tournament. In particular, Eikenburg played a major role in not only the design and planning for the college's laboratory, classroom and administrative spaces in the Health 2 building, but also coordinated the relocation of his department’s faculty, staff, students and research facilities into the new building.

Among the honors bestowed on Eikenburg during his career were his election as fellow of the AHA High Blood Pressure Council as well as receiving the UH Teaching Excellence Award, UH Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award, Rho Chi Society UHCOP Beta Omicron Chapter Teaching Excellence Award (and Honorable Mention), and UHCOP Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. He also was elected president of the UH Chapter of the Sigma Xi scientific research honor society.

His professional service outside of the university included appointments as editorial board member of the journal Clinical and Experimental Hypertension, editor of the BJP and member on numerous AHA research grant review panels. He is a member of the UHCOP Mading Society of benefactors.