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Randy Hall

Randy Hall

Current Position:

Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine

Degrees/Institutes:

  • BS, University of New Hampshire, 1990
  • PhD, University of California, Irvine, 1994
  • Post-Doc, Oregon Health Sciences University, 1994-1996
  • Post-Doc, Duke University Medical Center, 1996-1999

ASPET member since: 1999

Administrative Accomplishments

Randy Hall, PhD has served on ASPET Council for the past three years.  Prior to that, Dr. Hall served ASPET in a variety of different leadership roles, including as a member of the Awards Committee, Program Committee, and Board of Publications Trustees, in addition to serving as Chair of the Molecular Pharmacology Division Executive Committee. Similarly, Dr. Hall served in numerous leadership roles on the Emory campus, including as the Director of the Molecular & Systems Pharmacology Graduate Program from 2010-2020.

Research Areas

Research in Dr. Hall's lab is focused on the activation and regulation of G protein-coupled receptors. The lab has a special interest in studying disease-associated mutations to human receptors that perturb receptor signaling and/or trafficking. Such studies are of significant clinical importance because they shed light on genetic diseases, and also because they provide fundamental new insights into the basic biology of G protein-coupled receptors. Furthermore, Dr. Hall and colleagues have a strong interest in screening understudied G protein-coupled receptors to identify novel ligands. G protein-coupled receptors are extremely common targets for therapeutic pharmaceuticals, and thus the identification of new ligands acting on disease-relevant receptors provides leads that may eventually be developed into novel therapeutics.

ASPET Activities

  • Executive Committee, ASPET Molecular Pharmacology Division, 2008-2014 (Chair: 2011-2012)
  • ASPET Board of Publications Trustees, 2009-2015
  • ASPET Awards Committee, 2010-2016
  • ASPET Program Committee, 2012-2014
  • Co-Chair, ASPET Symposium on Adhesion GPCRs, 2016
  • Editorial Board, Molecular Interventions, 2005-2010
  • Editorial Board, Molecular Pharmacology, 2009-present
  • ASPET Council, 2020-present

Other Society Memberships/Activities

  • Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • Member, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
  • Member, Society for Neuroscience
  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), elected 2014

Personal Statement

I have been an enthusiastic member of ASPET for more than two decades and served the society in many different leadership roles.  This experience has positioned me well to serve as an effective President of ASPET.

The last few years have been a very challenging time for our society.  A major goal of ASPET is to promote interactions between scientists, but the pandemic has made such interactions more difficult over the past couple of years.  As a member of ASPET Council during this time, I’ve been involved in numerous decisions about how ASPET should evolve in the current era.  I am proud of the choices we’ve made and the way the society has come together to not only survive but genuinely thrive during this tumultuous period.

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.  I know of numerous collaborations that began as conversations at ASPET meetings and also know of many students who found their first positions after graduation because of contacts made at ASPET events.  For this reason, it is critical to keep ASPET meetings vibrant, with the goal of facilitating these fruitful interactions in the years to come.  My hope as President will be to enhance the many ways in which ASPET brings diverse communities together to promote the advancement of pharmacology research, education, and public outreach.

My efforts as ASPET President will be informed by my deep experience in serving the society.  I’ve served on the Board of Publication Trustees, which oversees the ASPET Journals, so I possess a wealth of knowledge about how our journals work as well as many ideas for helping to promote and enhance our journals.  I’ve also served on the Program Committee and have many ideas about ways in which the annual meeting (and other ASPET events) can be enhanced.  Moreover, at Emory, I’ve directed the Pharmacology graduate program for over a decade, so I feel that I have my finger on the pulse of what students find interesting and engaging.  As President, I will bring this knowledge to bear on the crucially important efforts by ASPET to attract and develop the next generation of pharmacology researchers.

I have served shoulder-to-shoulder on ASPET Council for the past few years with Past President Peggy Gnegy, current President Mike Jarvis and President-Elect Namandjé Bumpus, working closely with these leaders on many key initiatives.  Thus, my work as President will benefit from continuity with the actions of previous Presidents, providing strong, stable leadership as opposed to any sort of policy reversals that might slow the positive momentum that ASPET has been building.

I am excited for what the coming years will bring for ASPET.  Let’s work together to continue building an amazing, diverse society that brings people together to exchange ideas and promote the field of pharmacology.

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