The Healthy Turtle recently talked with Nathan about the award and his research:
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Healthy Turtle: How did you come to receive your grant/award to attend your conference? What was the process like?
Nathan Jenkins: The first step was to have an abstract accepted for presentation at the conference - The Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The application process for the Pollock Award required that students submit the poster for the meeting as a 1 page document - basically, a poster shrunk down to an 8.5 x 11 page.
The awards committee, a panel of individuals who worked extensively with Dr. Pollock during his career, decided on the "two best research projects focused in the area of clinical exercise physiology and/or health and fitness." I submitted the application on April 3, and was notified that I had received the Award on April 16--so it was a fast turnaround.
The most difficult thing about the process was assembling the poster so early - the meeting is not until late May. My co-authors, Drs. Sarah Witkowski, Espen Spangenburg, and Jim Hagberg, were extremely helpful and supportive in preparing the poster in time for the application deadline.
HT: What does this mean to you to win?
NJ: This award is a very nice honor for me. Professor Pollock made so many important contributions to the field during his career, and I know his work well. It is special to receive an award that carries his name. It also has a special meaning to my advisor, Dr. Jim Hagberg, knew Michael Pollock for many years. They coauthored a few papers while working together at the University of Florida in the 1980s and were close friends.
HT: How will attending this conference help you in your research and your future plans?
NJ: ACSM is one of the most important meetings of the year for exercise physiologists. This is where people in the field gather to learn what everyone is up to, in terms of their current research that may not yet be published. So, the information people share at this meeting is very new and exciting. Maybe I will learn something useful for my current research - I usually do.
Also, conferences like ACSM are very important for students in terms of networking. I still have a couple of years left in my Ph.D. program, but it is probably about the right time for me to begin thinking about a post-doctoral fellowship and future employment. I will keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities to explore these things at this year's ACSM meeting.
HT: What are your primary research interests?
NJ: I am interested in the biology of exercise as prevention for cardiovascular disease. Our laboratory's specific focus is on a recently-discovered circulating cell known as the "endothelial progenitor cell," or EPC.
The function of EPCs is to maintain and repair the inner lining of our blood vessels. The goal of my work is to determine if endurance exercise promotes favorable conditions inside the cell for an EPC to perform this job. The data I will be presenting at ACSM indicate that this hypothesis is correct, but there is still a lot of work to be done . . .
HT: What are you most looking forward to about the conference?
I am most looking forward to presenting my poster. I enjoy interacting with others in the field - explaining my work to them and fielding their questions. In the past, this has been a very educational and productive experience for me.
NJ: I also must admit that I am looking forward to spending a few extra days in Seattle after the conference for the sole purpose of fun and adventure.
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Nathan Jenkins is a doctoral student in the School of Public Health's Department of Kinesiology. For more information on the American College of Sports Medicine Conference, visit their Web site at http://www.acsm.org/.
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