Kansas State University

MANHATTAN -- The American Physiological Society has named a Kansas State University professor as its top educator.

Timothy Musch, professor of kinesiology and anatomy and physiology, is the society's 2013 Arthur C. Guyton Physiology Educator of the Year.

The national honor recognizes Musch for making a significant impact on the students he teaches, on his institution, and an enduring and significant impact on physiology education on the national and international stage.

Musch, who holds a duel appointment with the College of Human Ecology and the College of Veterinary Medicine, teaches graduate and undergraduate exercise physiology and co-directs the Cardiorespiratory Exercise Laboratory. His fields of research include coronary heart disease and chronic heart failure.

His lab provides opportunities for faculty and students to study the physiology of physical activity in health and disease through a variety of animal models. Research projects undertaken by the lab emphasize pulmonary gas exchange and the relationship between skeletal muscle structure and oxygen delivery at the microcirculatory levels.

"More than half of students who graduate with a kinesiology major are admitted each year to physical therapy, medical and other health professional and graduate schools. While much of the success of these students can be attributed to Dr. Musch's lectures in their required course work, his influence also extends to the development of an undergraduate exercise physiology curriculum that is unmatched nationally and an active lab that has successfully involved numerous undergraduates in research experiences," said David Dzewaltowski, professor and head of the department of kinesiology.

Musch is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine from which he received the Citation Award this year. He chairs the national environmental and exercise physiology section of the American Physiological Society and is on the journal's editorial board. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Physiology.

The professor has graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He did a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular physiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Dallas.

He will receive the award at the society's annual meeting on April 23.