Governance
Executive Council
The Protein Society is governed by elected officers and an Executive Council. The officers are President, Secretary/Treasurer, and President-Elect. The President acts as the Chair of the Executive Council, which meets twice annually to vote on Society business and plan Society activities. Councilors serve in staggered 3-year terms to ensure continuity.
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Elizabeth Meiering | President | Term Ending 2026
Liz grew up in Guelph, Ontario, and Bocholt, Germany. During her undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of Waterloo, Canada, she researched the stability and function of Ca-ATPase with Professor James Lepock. Her PhD studies with Professor Sir Alan Fersht at the University of Cambridge, England, investigated the roles of active site residues on the folding and function of barnase. As a postdoctoral fellow, she investigated activity and drug binding by dihydrofolate reductase with Professor Gerhard Wagner at Harvard Medical School, USA. Dr. Meiering then joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo, where she currently holds the position of Full Professor. Her research program is focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms that determine protein function and aggregation, with applications in protein engineering and design for medicine and biotechnology. She won a John Charles Polanyi Award and a University Research Chair. Her professional activities include diverse leadership roles locally, nationally, and internationally, such as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Director of the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology University of Waterloo, ALS Society of Canada Scientific Advisory Board, Executive Council Member of The Protein Society, and Chair of the Proteins Gordon Research Conference. |
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Heather Pinkett | President-Elect | Term Ending 2028
Dr. Heather Pinkett began her research career as an undergraduate at Connecticut College in the laboratory of Professor David K. Lewis, where she studied gas-phase kinetics. Following 2 years of post-baccalaureate research at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGR), as part of the Prostate Investigational Group, she earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Dr. Mitchell Lewis, focusing on the structure and function of phage transcription factors. She then completed her postdoctoral training with Dr. Douglas Rees at California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Dr. Pinkett is currently an Associate in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern University. Her research program investigates the structure, function, and regulation of membrane proteins with a particular emphasis on ATP- binding cassette (ABC) transporters -proteins that use ATP hydrolysis to transport substrates across cellular membranes. Her interdisciplinary approach includes biophysical techniques such as X -crystallography and cryoEM to study transporters and associated proteins from fungi and pathogenic bacteria, including those linked to inner ear infections and respiratory disorders. Beyond the research, Dr. Pinkett actively contributes to the scientific community. She serves as the Director of the NIH Molecular Biophysics Training Program at Northwestern and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Molecular Biology.
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Vicki Wysocki | Secretary/Treasurer | Term Ending 2025
Vicki Wysocki received her BS in Chemistry from Western Kentucky University in 1982 and her PhD in Chemistry from Purdue University in 1987. After pursuing postdoctoral studies at Purdue and at the Naval Research Laboratory as a National Research Council Fellow, she joined Virginia Commonwealth University as an Assistant Professor in 1990. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1994. Vicki joined the University of Arizona in 1996 and was promoted to Professor in 2000. Most recently she was Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona. Vicki joined OSU in August 2012 as an Ohio Eminent Scholar and Director of the OSU Campus Chemical Instrument Center. Awards include the 2009 Distinguished Contribution to Mass Spectrometry Award from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, jointly with Professor Simon Gaskell, and the 2017 American Chemical Society Field and Franklin Award for Outstanding Contributions to Mass Spectrometry. Vicki served as VP Programs, President, and Past President of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry from is currently an associate editor for the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry.
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Full Council
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Ex-Officio Members
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