Nick Delamere is Head of the Department of Physiology at the University of Arizona. He received a Ph.D. degree in 1977 from the University of East Anglia, England. His dissertation project was a biophysical study of lens cell membranes. In 1977 he moved to the University of Colorado as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Ophthalmology. He rose through the ranks to become an Associate Professor before joining the Kentucky Lions Eye Research Institute at the University of Louisville in 1986. Nick served as program director for the doctoral degree program in Visual Science. In summer 2006 he moved to Tucson to lead the Department of Physiology at the University of Arizona. The Department has a long history of research achievement and it is a source of pride that medical students, graduate students and undergraduates at the University of Arizona are taught physiology by faculty who are leaders in their field. Interest in physiology is growing and the Physiology Major is one of the most popular science majors at the University.   Nick earned recognition for his work on the regulation of ion transport proteins in the lens and ciliary epithelium. Currently, his laboratory studies the way Na, K-ATPase proteins function not only as sodium pumps but also regulators of cell proliferation and gene expression. Na,K-ATPase interacts in complex ways with protein kinases, with cell calcium stores, with proteins that control mitochondrial function, and with cell sensors that detect mechanical distortion. Studying these interactions will lead to a better understanding of disease progression in cataract and glaucoma. Because the same physiological interactions are found elsewhere, findings from these studies could tell us something useful about tumor development, stroke-related nerve death, ischemic heart disease and some forms of kidney disease. His work has been funded by NIH grants, the American Diabetes Association and the J. Graham Brown Cancer Center.   Nick has been the recipient of the Research to Prevent Blindness Inc. Senior Scientific Investigator Award and the University of Louisville President’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity. In 2005 he became a Distinguished University Scholar. Nick is a former president of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the leading organization for clinicians and basic scientists involved in eye research. He also served previously as President of the Association of Chairs of Physiology Departments and as Vice President of the International Society for Eye Research. In the past he was a member of the NIH Visual Science-A study section and currently serves as Chair of the Diseases and Pathology of the Visual System study section.  Nick co-founded the journal Current Eye Research and serves on the editorial boards of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science and the Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics.  He is co-chair of the Helen Keller Prize committee.