President - Professor Yasunobu Okada
Professor Yasunobu Okada was born in 1943. He graduated from Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine in 1970. After obtaining a medical doctor license in 1970, he studied Physiology at Department Physiology, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine as Research Fellow ( ~ 1974), Research Associate ( ~ 1981) and Assistant Professor ( ~ 1992)

He was also awarded a scholarship from Japan government to study biophysics at Montreal University (1976 ~ 1977) and received a Ph.D. in 1981 at Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine. In 1992, he moved to the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Okazaki as Professor.

His initial research work in Kyoto was on the ionic mechanisms of gastrointestinal absorption and secretion (1970 ~ 1992). He also studied on the ionic mechanisms and physiological significance of oscillations of membrane potential and intracellular Ca2+ in Kyoto (1975 ~ 1987). Later he turned his interest to cell volume regulation and studied their mechanisms in Kyoto and Okazaki (1987 ~ present). In Okazaki, he also started physiological studies on the induction mechanisms of cell death (1999 ~ present).

 He is the Director-General, National Institute for Physiological Sciences; the Vice President, National Institutes of Natural Sciences; and the Professor, School of Life Science, Graduate University for Advanced Studies. He is also the President of Japan Physiological Society as well as the Vice President and the Secretary of the Organizing Committee of IUPS2009.　

 E-mail okada@nips.ac.jp; Tel +81-564-55-7731; Fax +81-564-55-7735

 
Past President - Professor Chumpol Pholpramool  

Professor Chumpol Pholpramool was born in 1946 in Bangkok. He received a bachelor degree with 2nd class honor in Organic Chemistry from the University of Medical Science (presently Mahidol University) in 1968. Then he was awarded a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation to study physiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA.

After receiving a Ph.D. in 1973, he returned home and joined the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University since then. During his early research career, he was among a very few workers in studying water and electrolyte transport in the lacrimal gland.

Later he turned his interest to male reproduction and spent one year with Professor Brian P. Setchell at the AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology in Cambridge, UK in 1980. His main contributions include factors regulating epididymal sperm motility, and the control of contractions of the epididymis and sperm transport.

Currently, his research interests are physiology of male reproduction,
 membrane transport, stem cells, regulation of satellite cells and 
 fluid balance during exercise. Professor Pholpramool chaired the 
Department of Physiology from 1988-1992 and from 1996-2000. 
Currently, he chairs the graduate program in Exercise Science and
 is a member of the Gatrorade Sports Science Institute Asia 
Advisory Board.

He was the Associate Dean for Administration at the Faculty of
Science during 1992-1994, and the Associate Director for Research
at the Institute of Science and Technology for Research and
Development, Mahidol University during 2001-2005. At the same t
ime he also chaired the National Collaborative Research Network in
Physiology under the auspices of the Ministry of University Affairs
.

Professor Pholpramool served as a Council member of IUPS during 1993-2001. He was among the founders of FAOPS and served as the Secretary from 1990 to 1998. He also initiates the publication of FAOPS Newsletter and be the Editor since its inception.

 
2nd Vice President - Professor Ki Whan Kim
Professor Ki Whan Kim was born in 1941. He received a M.D. degree from Seoul National College of Medicine in 1966, and a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Physiology from Seoul National University in 1968 and 1974, respectively. Presently, Professor Kim is at the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Seoul National University College of Medicine.

After his graduation, he spent two years as a research fellow at Freiburg University, Germany from 1976 to 1978. In 1986 and 1990 he was a visiting professor at Kyushu University in Japan. His research interest is the mechanism of smooth muscle contraction.

He is a member of several academic societies such as the Korean Physiological Society (KPS), the Korean Pharmacological Society, the Korean Society for Smooth Muscle Research (KSSMR), the Japanese Physiological Society, and the American Physiological Society. Of these he was the president of KSSMR during 1992-1994, and of KPS during 1997-1999.

He has also been in several important administrative positions: Associate Dean for Student Affairs (1990-1992) and for Academic Affairs (1992-1994) of Seoul National University, Chairman of the Department of Physiology (1993-1998), Director of Seoul National University Heart Research Institute (1997-1999), and Director of Biomedical Research Center of the Korean Institute of Science and Technology (1999-2002).

He is the chairman of the local organizing committee for the 6th Congress of FAOPS in Seoul in the year 2006. Previously, he was an ordinary member of the Council during 1998-2002.

 
Ordinary Members

 Professor Saeed Semnanian

Professor Saeed Semnanian was born in Tehran in 1956. He received a M.D. degree from Shaheed Beheshti Medical Sciences University in 1976 and a Ph.D. in Physiology from the same university in 1986.

He was a faculty member of the department of Physiology, Shaheed Beheshti Medical Sciences University during 1990-1993.

After that he was appointed to the Head of the Institute of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Tehran University in 1993. Then he moved to Tarbiat Modares University and be the Chairman of the Department of Physiology, Research Vice Chancellor and the Chancellor of the university in 1997. He is the Treasurer of the Iranian Physiology and Pharmacology Society.