TRUMAN STATE UNIVERSITY TRUMAN STATE UNIVERSITY Nationally Ranked, Affordable, Personal
Alumni
FOUNDATION

 

Alumnus/na of the Year Awards

2009:

Greg A. Gerhardt ('79)

2008:

Lanny (’62, ’64) & Beth (Fisher) (’63) Morley

2007:

Randa Rawlins ('79)

2006:

Guy (’53)(’55) & Betty (McKanna) Burton

2005:

Eugene Croarkin Sr. ('49, '52)

2004:

Dwain Horn ('50)

2003:

Calvin Roebuck ('57)

2002:

Linda Miller ('70)

2001:

Dean Rosebery ('41) & Amy (Ayres) ('43) Rosebery

2000:

Carole Kennedy ('72)

1999:

Chuck Foudree ('66)

1998:

Bud Hunter ('50)

1997:

Joseph Hasenstab ('60)

1996:

Steve Gaw ('78) & Fannie (Bowdish) Gaw ('84)

1995:

James C.C. Chen ('86)

1994:

Ruth Warner Towne ('39)

1993:

Frederick "Fritz" Lauer ('50)

1992:

Ray Bentele ('60) & Mary (Cox) Bentele ('60)

1991:

Larry Moore ('67)
 

2009 Alumnus of the Year:
Dr. Greg A. Gerhardt ('79)

 As one of the nation’s foremost researchers on Parkinson’s disease, Dr. Greg A. Gerhardt attributes much of his success to his educational experience at Truman.

 “Although I believe that I received good science and math training in high school, Truman propelled me to a higher level and gave me a competitive edge,” says Gerhardt. He credits Truman’s faculty, especially Dr. Kenneth Fountain, for encouraging him to pursue a career in chemistry and research.

Gerhardt received his bachelor of science in chemistry magna cum laude from Truman State University (then Northeast Missouri State University) in 1979. He received additional training in chemistry and neuroscience at the University of Kansas where he earned his Ph.D. with honors in 1983, and he received training as a postdoctoral fellow from 1983-1985 in pharmacology and psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He remained at the University of Colorado from 1985-1999 where he rose through the ranks to professor (with tenure) of psychiatry, pharmacology and The Neuroscience Training Program.

He is currently RCTF professor with tenure, Departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurology, Psychiatry and Electrical Engineering at the University of Kentucky. Since 1999, he has served as director of the Morris K. Udall Parkinson’s Disease Research Center of Excellence at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center, Lexington, Ky., one of 15 NIH funded Centers for the development of new treatments for Parkinson’s disease. He is also the director of the Center for Microelectrode Technology.

His research focuses on Parkinson’s disease and the repair of damaged dopamine neurons in the basal ganglia of the brain using growth factors such as GDNF. His laboratory also develops microelectrode technologies to directly measure neuronal cell firing and neurotransmission in the living brain, and technologies to repair the brain through brain machine interfaces.

Since 1999, Gerhardt has been editor-in-chief (Americas and Australia) for the Journal of Neuroscience Methods, and he has published more than 240 original peer-reviewed papers, 55 book chapters and more than 440 abstracts and conference proceedings. He has won numerous awards including a recent Research Career Development Award from NIMH from 2000 to 2005.

Through his estate, Gerhardt has committed $1 million to create the Greg A. and Paulette C. Danielle-Gerhardt Endowed Professorship at Truman to commemorate his late wife, Paulette. “I have allegiance to several universities, and we felt compassion to support them all, but Truman is the school where we felt we could make the most impact,” says Gerhardt. The Greg A. and Paulette C. Danielle-Gerhardt Endowed Professorship will support a professor in chemistry or biology with a preference given to those teaching or researching neuroscience.