A Conversation with ASPET’s President-Elect Randy Hall, PhD
Randy Hall, PhD, is professor at Emory University, School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga., and currently serves as ASPET’s President-Elect. He received his PhD from the University of California at Irvine. Dr. Hall has previously served on the ASPET Council from 2020–2023. In addition, he has served ASPET in a variety of different leadership roles, including as a member of the Executive Committee on the Molecular Pharmacology Division, Board of Publications Trustees, Awards Committee, Program Committee and on the editorial boards of Molecular Interventions and Molecular Pharmacology. Dr. Hall’s research area focuses on mechanisms of signal transduction by neurotransmitter and hormone receptors. Similarly, Dr. Hall served in numerous leadership roles on the Emory campus, including as the Director of Molecular & Systems Pharmacology Graduate Program. An ASPET member since 1999. Dr. Hall shares his insight and guidance for young scientists with The Pharmacologist.
How did you get started in pharmacology?
In grad school, I was in a neuroscience program but my research was highly focused on receptor pharmacology. During my post-doc studies, I continued to be obsessed by questions like: what makes a good drug target? What makes a good drug? Given this, when I began searching for faculty positions, departments of pharmacology seemed like a natural fit for me.
How did you first get involved with ASPET?
I joined ASPET in 1999 when I took a faculty job at Emory University in the Department of Pharmacology. I started attending the annual ASPET meetings and thoroughly enjoyed the chance to spend time with a lot of smart, interesting people who shared my passions. Moreover, my research greatly benefited from the feedback I received at these meetings.
What do you want the ASPET membership to know about you and your ideas on how to move the organization forward during your term?
There has never been a more important time than right now for ASPET and other scientific societies to continue the work of bringing people together. As we continue to emerge from the global pandemic-related restrictions of the past few years, scholars and scientists around the world are hungrier than ever for interaction and collaboration, with scientific societies playing an absolutely critical role in helping scholars with common interests find one another. My hope as President-Elect (and eventually as President) is to enhance the many ways in which ASPET brings diverse communities together to promote the advancement of pharmacology research, education, and public outreach.
What has been your proudest accomplishment in your career so far?
My proudest accomplishment is definitely seeing all the trainees from my lab (and from the pharmacology graduate program that I directed for 10 years) go off into the world and become leaders in academia, industry and government. I love keeping in touch with my trainees and offering whatever assistance and advice I can as their careers continue to blossom.
What advice would you give young scientists who are just starting out in their careers?
I would advise students to get out there and start regularly attending scientific meetings. It is incredibly valuable to get feedback on your research and even more valuable to meet like-minded people and begin forming the friendships and connections that will develop into your professional network.
