Profile: Kenneth Mitchell, PhD

Biography

Kenneth D. Mitchell, PhD, is a Professor of Medical Education at the UTRGV School of Medicine.

Dr. Mitchell previously served as a Professor in the Department of Physiology at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and a Doctor of Philosophy in Physiology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He received his postdoctoral fellowship training in the Nephrology Research and Training Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He specializes in the areas of renal physiology and hypertension research and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American Society of Nephrology.

Dr. Mitchell’s basic science research program was oriented towards evaluating the role of angiotensin II (ANG II) in the regulation of renal hemodynamics and tubular reabsorptive function in normotensive and hypertensive states. Emphasis was focused on determining the mechanisms responsible for mediating the renal functional and morphological derangements in ANG II-dependent hypertension.

Dr. Mitchell has taught physiology, particularly renal physiology and hypertension, to medical students, residents, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty for nearly 44 years. He initially taught at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, then at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and subsequently at Tulane University School of Medicine. Since joining Tulane Medical School in 1988, he has been heavily involved in the teaching of physiology to first- and second-year medical students. He has been responsible for lecturing renal physiology to medical students and supervising and running various medical student laboratories. More recently, he has been involved in teaching physiology using case-based learning and team-based learning formats. He was also instrumental in developing, modernizing, and integrating the first-year medical student curriculum at Tulane Medical School. Accordingly, Dr. Mitchell has a considerable number of years of experience in teaching physiology to first- and second-year medical students, as well as extensive experience in developing, administering, and organizing the preclinical medical education curriculum at Tulane.