Sue Piper Duckles, Ph.D. is Professor and Associate Dean in the College of Medicine, University of California, Irvine. She received her B.A. from University of California, Berkeley in 1968 and Ph.D. degree from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco in 1973. Further postdoctoral training was with Dr. John Bevan in the Pharmacology Department at UCLA. With receipt of a Faculty Development Award from the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Foundation, Inc in 1976, she was appointed Assistant Professor in Residence at UCLA. In 1979 she became Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1983. In 1985 she joined the Dept. of Pharmacology in the College of Medicine, University of California, Irvine and was promoted to Full Professor in 1988.

Dr. Duckles has devoted her research career to understanding the regulation of vascular function in the brain as well as in peripheral circulations. Her work has inherent importance for understanding the etiology and treatment of common diseases such as stroke and hypertension. Most recently, Dr. Duckles has elucidated mechanisms underlying the effects of gonadal steroids, including estrogen and testosterone, on the cerebral vasculature.

More than 10 years ago, Dr. Duckles recognized the dearth of research on male-female differences and sex hormone influences on vascular function, in spite of numerous clinical observations suggesting sex differences in incidence and severity of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Dr. Duckles helped bring the field together in 1996 by co-organizing the first symposium to focus on gonadal steroids and vascular function. She was among the first grant recipients of the NIH Women's Health Initiative for basic research, and her work on gonadal steroids continues to be funded by NIH. While the clinical results on hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women remain controversial, Dr. Duckles and her collaborators have made significant progress in establishing beneficial effects of estrogen on the endothelial lining of blood vessels and delineating the mechanisms. Dr. Duckles has taken an integrative approach by monitoring contractile function as well as underlying biochemical changes in blood vessels isolated from rodent models of hormone replacement therapy. Her work has demonstrated three significant, but distinct, effects of estrogen on cerebrovascular function. Acute estrogen increases NO production via the PI3 kinase/Akt pathway while long-term exposure acts via endothelial-dependent mechanisms to increase levels of eNOS, COX-1 and prostacyclin synthase, resulting in increased vasodilator production. Finally, chronic estrogen suppresses vascular inflammation. Her studies of testosterone demonstrate that, overall, testosterone treatment has the opposite effects. This multiplicity of effects of estrogen and testosterone indicates that gonadal steroids profoundly influence cerebrovascular function and suggest that manipulation of these pathways may have both advantageous and deleterious effects.

Throughout her career, Dr. Duckles has been recognized as a leader, both at the University, nationally and internationally. In 1990 she was elected Chair of the Irvine Division of the Academic Senate, serving for two years. Since 1993, Dr. Duckles has served as Associate Dean for Faculty Development in the College of Medicine. She has strengthened faculty recruitment established an effective new faculty orientation program. She also developed a novel program, Strategic Planning for Assistant Professors, to provide ongoing guidance and mentorship of junior faculty by experienced senior faculty.

Throughout her career Dr. Duckles has been a member of journal editorial boards and has participated in peer review for the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. Dr. Duckles was elected President of the Western Pharmacology Society (1992), president of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (1997-1998), and Vice President for Science Policy for the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) (2000-2001.

In 2001 Dr. Duckles was selected by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics to start a new scientific journal for the society. As chair of the Editorial Board Dr. Duckles recruited an outstanding Editorial Board and hired a full-time editor. The well-received journal, Molecular Interventions, is just completing its third year of publication. Molecular Interventions publishes brief reviews in key areas of the field, as well as topical features reflecting the breadth and depth of the discipline of Pharmacology.

In 2002 Dr. Duckles served as President of the 14th World Congress of Pharmacology held in San Francisco. In addition, she was selected to organize the 10th International Symposium on Vascular Neuroeffector Mechanisms (July, 2002). Dr. Duckles currently serves as Secretary General of the International Union of Pharmacology (IUPHAR).