Michael Joseph Joyner is an American anesthesiologist and physiologist who researches

exercise physiology Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he repurposed his lab and led the US Convalescent Plasma Program.

Early life and education

Joyner was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1958. His family moved to Tucson, Arizona, in 1961, where his father (Conrad) was a faculty member at the University of Arizona and a local politician. Joyner graduated from Rincon High School in 1976 and attended the University of Arizona for both his undergraduate and medical degrees. During his time as an undergraduate, he was a distance runner on the track and cross-country teams with a marathon best time of 2:25:44. His interest in physiology and biomedical research began in 1977 when he was recruited to participate as a subject in a study on lactic acid and distance running performance. After medical school, he received residency training in anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic. Formative mentors and collaborators include professors Eddie Coyle, Jack Wilmore, John Holloszy, Douglas Stuart, Doug Seals, Roger Enoka, Jim Hagberg, Marlys Witte, Jerry Dempsey, Kai Rehder, and John Shepherd.

Career

Joyner is currently the Frank R. and Shari Caywood Professor of

Anesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...

at the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

, where his laboratory has been funded continuously by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

since 1993. He was Deputy Director and Associate Dean for Research at the Mayo Clinic from 2005 to 2010. He was named a Distinguished Investigator by his colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in 2010, and he received the

American Physiological Society The American Physiological Society is a non-profit professional society for physiologists. It has nearly 10,000 members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees in medicine, physiology, or other health professions. Its mission is to support research ...

’s Walter B. Cannon Award in 2013. A fellow of the

American College of Sports Medicine The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a sports medicine and exercise science membership organization. Founded in 1954, ACSM holds conferences, publishes books and journals, and offers certif ...

(ACSM), he delivered the Joseph B. Wolffe Memorial Lecture at the ACSM's 2004 annual meeting, received the ACSM Citation Award in 2009, and delivered the opening keynote at their 2018 Conference on Integrative Physiology of Exercise. In 2021, his convalescent plasma team was awarded a BARDA Medal for their contributions during the pandemic. In 2023, Joyner received the Honor Award from the EEP section of the American Physiological Society; he also received the Honor Award from the American College of Sports Medicine. In addition to his work on exercise physiology and human performance, Joyner is interested in sex differences and blood pressure regulation, thermoregulation, hypoxia, blood loss, passive immunity, and pandemic preparedness. More than 25 of Joyner’s research fellows now direct independent research programs at major research institutions. An outspoken critic of

reductionism Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical positi ...

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, he has been called "one of the world's most widely cited experts on the limits of human performance." Joyner is also a fierce defender of academic freedom and the ability of scientists to share their opinions and knowledge without fear in the public square.

References

External links

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Mayo Clinic Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joyner, Michael Joseph Living people American physiologists Exercise physiologists American anesthesiologists University of Arizona alumni Physicians of the Mayo Clinic Year of birth missing (living people)