Kay Lund
Kay Lund (Pauline Kay Lund) became Editor in Chief of the American
Journal of Physiology–Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology in July
2009. She trained at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England,
receiving a B.S. in Physiology in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Gastrointestinal
Physiology in 1979. In 1979 she braved the Atlantic to do postdoctoral
research at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
with the goal of combining physiological approaches and molecular biology.
In 1982, Kay was recruited to the University of North Carolina (UNC) at
Chapel Hill as an Assistant Professor in Physiology. She currently holds the
endowed Sarah Graham Kenan Professorship in Cell and Molecular Physiology at
UNC-Chapel Hill and holds joint appointments as Professor in Nutrition and
Pediatrics.
Dr. Lund’s research focuses on normal and aberrant growth of the
gastrointestinal tract with an emphasis on hormone and growth factor
signaling. She is interested in molecular and physiological mechanisms that
permit beneficial growth effects on gastrointestinal epithelium or
mesenchyme but protect against excessive growth that may lead to cancer or
pathophysiological conditions such as fibrosis. A hallmark of her research
is to combine physiological, molecular and cellular approaches in animal
models of disease and to translate basic research findings to the clinic.
She has published studies on nearly every GI-related organ system including
stomach, colon, pancreas and liver, and has also conducted neurobiology
research comparing brain-gut peptides and growth factors. Her recent work
has explored novel roles of suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) in the
GI tract as tumor suppressors and inhibitors of fibrosis. She is also
pursuing research on growth factor regulation of stem cells and innovative
imaging methods for tumor detection. She was an Associate Editor of
Gastroenterology and has served on the editorial board of
Endocrinology and numerous study sections. Dr. Lund is particularly
active as a mentor to trainees and junior faculty and is an advocate for
cross-discipline and translational research, education, and training.
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