Dr. Pawelczyk received his Ph. D. in Biology (Physiology) from the UNT/TCOM under the mentorship of Peter B. Raven, Ph.D. in 1989 and supported by a NIH pre-doctoral fellowship. His NIH supported 3 year post-doctoral training was completed in the Division of Cardiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSWMC) under the mentorship of Jere H. Mitchell, M.D. Subsequently, Dr. Pawelczyk joined the faculty in the division of Cardiology at UTSWMC where he directed the Autonomic and Exercise Physiology Laboratories at the IEEM, jointly sponsored by UTSWMC and Presbyterian Hospital. Currently, Dr. Pawelczyk is the co-director of educational and training programs for Penn State University. His expertise in investigating human autonomic and exercise physiology questions using microneurographic techniques and analyses during increases and decreases in central blood volume result in him being invited to perform collaborative investigations with Niels Secher at the famed Copenhagen Muscle Research Center in Denmark. Ultimately, he was selected by NASA to undergo Astronaut Training at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX between 1996- 1998. This training culminated in him operating as a Pay-Load Specialist on the 1998 STS-90 Columbia Neurolab Shuttle flight during which he obtained microneurographic sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) measures on the crew during the microgravity of low earth orbit.
SaturdayOctober 12, 2024