Vladimir Parpura, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the Department of Neurobiology, was elected president of the American Society for Neurochemistry for the 2017-19 term following his service in numerous executive roles with the organization. Among its missions, the American Society for Neurochemistry seeks to advance and promote the science of neurochemistry and related neurosciences and to increase and enhance neurochemical knowledge.
Parpura earned his medical degree from the University of Zagreb in Croatia in 1989, and a doctorate in neuroscience and zoology from Iowa State University in 1993. He was elected as a Member of Academia Europaea in 2012 and of Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives in 2016, and has held faculty appointments at Iowa State University, the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Rijeka, Croatia, before joining UAB.
Parpura is the second UAB faculty to lead the ASN; Etty “Tika” Benveniste, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, was president from 2013 to 2015.