Society of
General physiologists

JGP-SGP Junior Faculty Network

Starting a new lab and trying to navigate your science, papers, grants, and institutional duties? 

Want to meet people in the same situation and connect with established scientists who can their perspectives?

Apply to join the 2026 Junior Faculty Network

Deadline: 10 February 2026

Overview

The Junior Faculty Networking matches up to ten junior faculty with a member of  Journal of General Physiology's Editorial Advisory Board for quarterly group discussions. Each discussion begins with a topic of relevance, such as selecting and managing personnel, financial management, and collaborating wisely. The remaining time is devoted to topics chosen by the participants.

The network leader is a senior scientist who will contribute sage advice and act as a sounding board for ideas. Junior faculty who participate will also benefit from mentoring each other. Network members are also invited to attend the annual JGP Editorial Board Meeting.

2026 Network Leader

Dr. Murali Prakriya

Magerstadt Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine
Northwestern University

Objectives

• Foster our community of physiologists by addressing the needs of junior faculty in the first stage of their independent careers.

• Demystify the hidden curriculum that junior faculty face when creating labs and research programs.

• Offer a support network of peers and leading experts with shared trajectories to create a sense of support that adds to individuals’ resilience and sense of purpose.
  

Eligibility

• Must be a current member of the Society of General Physiologists. See sgpweb.org/membership for details.
  
  

• Must have accepted a first independent position at an academic or research institution to start within the next year OR be withing 3 years of starting an independent position.
  

• Applicants who have been an author on a paper in JGP within the last 5 years will receive priority.
  
  

Past Networks

2025 Network

Dr. Matthew C. Trudeau, Network Leader
Professor, Department of Physiology
University of Maryland School of Medicine

Network Members

• Yuriana Aguilar (Texas A&M University)
• Maria Falzone (UT Health San Antonio)
• Ana Fernandez-Marino (University of Colorado Anschutz)
• Krishna Reddy (University of South Florida)
• Philipp Schmidpeter (University of Texas San Antonio)
• Chen Zhao (University of Florida)

2024 Network

Dr. Janice L. Robertson, Network Leader
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Network Members

• Han Chow Chua (University of Sydney)
• Axel Concepcion (University of Chicago)
• Kevin Cunningham (University of Westminster)
• Vivian Gonzalez-Perez (Washington University in St. Louis)
• Ingo Koomoa-Lange (Western New England University)
• Jing Li (University of Mississippi)
• Tara Sweet (SUNY Geneseo) 
• Lan Wei-LaPierre (University of Florida)

2021 Network

Sudha Chakrapani, Network Leader
Joseph T. Wearn, MD University Professor in Medicine
Director, Cryo-Electron Microscopy Core
Director, Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology
Case Western Reserve University

Network Members

• Sandipan Chowdhury, University of Iowa, USA
• Gucan (Gabriel) Dai, Saint Louis University, USA
• Hugo Alves Figueiredo, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico
• Joel C. Rosenbaum, University of Pittsburgh, USA
• David Sauer, University of Oxford, England
• Appu Singh, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

2020 Network

Rajini Rao, Network Leader
Director, Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Professor of Physiology, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Junior Faculty:

• Melinda Engevik, Medical University of South Carolina
• Wayland Cheng, Washington University
• Grace Muller, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Osama Harraz, University of Vermont
• Thirumalini Vaithianathan, University of Tennessee Health Science Center
• Stefano Morotti, University of California Davis
• Daniel Collier, University of Tennessee Health Science Center
• Vivek Garg, University of Maryland Baltimore

2019 Network

Robert J. French, PhD, Network Leader
Professor, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology
Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

Network Members

• Victor De la Rosa, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi
• Daniel Johnson, The Open University, United Kingdom
• Claudia Moreno, University of Washington
• Michael Puljung, University of Oxford
• Oscar Vivas, University of Washington
  

2018 Network

William N. Zagotta, PhD, Network Leader
JGP Editorial Advisory Board Member
University of Washington

Network Members

• Thirumalini Vaithianathan, University of Tennessee Health Science Center
• Linlin Ma, Flinders University
• David Jones, University of Michigan
• Kazuharu Furutani, University of California Davis
• Karen Mruk, University of Wyoming
• Josep Font Sadurni, University of Sydney
• Christian Peters, University of California, San Francisco
• Igor Vorobyov, University of California, Davis
• Isaac García Carrillo, Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile

2017 Network

Mark Nelson, PhD, Network Leader
JGP Editorial Advisory Board Member
The University of Vermont, College of Medicine

Network Members

• Aurelia Honerkamp-Smith, Lehigh University
• Eric Senning, University of Washington
• Elaine Wan, Columbia University
• Ainara Vallejo, Biodonostia Health Research Institute
• Ivy Dick, University of Maryland
• David MacLean, University of Rochester

Richard W. Aldrich, PhD, Network Leader
JGP Associate Editor
The University of Texas at Austin

Network Members

• Ruhma Syeda, The University of Texas Southwestern
• Manu Ben Johny, Johns Hopkins University
• Fan Yang, Zhejiang University
• Medha M. Pathak, The University of California, Irvine
• Jerome Lacroix, Western University of Health Sciences
• Changhoon Jee, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Gail Robertson, PhD, Network Leader
JGP Editorial Advisory Board Member
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Network Members

• Nathan Tykocki, University of Vermont
• Hannah R. Malcolm, University of North Florida
• Jamie Spangler, Johns Hopkins University
• Lydia Nausch, Nuremberg Hospital Medical School
• Ivana Kuo, Loyola University Chicago