Charles O. Rutledge
 |
Vice President for Research
Charles O. Rutledge is a pharmacologist with expertise in the actions of drugs on the central and peripheral nervous systems. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1966 and studied with Nobel Laureate Arvid Carlsson in Gothenburg, Sweden, on a NATO postdoctoral fellowship the following year. Along with his students and fellows, he described the detailed mechanism by which amphetamine reverses the neuronal uptake carrier to cause efflux of biogenic amine neurotransmitters from the nerve endings. This action explains the powerful behavioral actions of this drug. Another series of studies examined the microenvironment of the neuronal membrane in which alteration of membrane fluidity in the vicinity of the membrane carrier changes its transport characteristics for catecholamine neurotransmitters.
Dr. Rutledge began his academic career in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado in the Department of Pharmacology. He moved to the University of Kansas in 1975 where he became the head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the School of Pharmacy. In 1987, Dr. Rutledge came to Purdue to serve as professor of pharmacology and dean of the schools of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences.
He has also served on numerous professional organizations, including as president of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) (1996-97), president of American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (1996-97), and treasurer of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (1994-96). He is currently chair of the ASPET Investment Subcommittee of the Finance Committee (1998-present). He was Field Editor for the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Editor of Biogenic Amines. Dr. Rutledge has been a member of two NIMH Review Committees and the NIGMS Pharmacological Sciences Review Committee, which reviewed training grants in the pharmacological sciences.
In 2001, Dr. Rutledge became director of Discovery Park. In August 2002, he retired as dean and in November assumed the additional responsibilities of Interim Vice Provost for Research. He was recipient of the 2002 Rho Chi Lecture Award. Governor Frank O’Bannon granted the distinguished Sagamore of the Wabash award to Dr. Rutledge in June of 2002. In May 2005, Dr. Rutledge was named the Vice President for Research at Purdue University.
Related Links: