Meet UNMC Distinguished Scientist Paul Sorgen, Ph.D.

UNMC researcher Paul Sorgen, Ph.D., answers questions about his work, life and interests.

NOTE: This profile is part of a series to highlight the 23 researchers who will be honored May 22 at a ceremony for UNMC’s 2011 Scientist Laureate, Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator award recipients.

Paul Sorgen, Ph.D.

• Name: Paul Sorgen, Ph.D.
  
• Title: Associate professor in the College of Medicine
  
• Joined UNMC: August 2003
  
• Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Describe your research in laymen’s terms.

Signals for the heart to contract are passed efficiently through gap junctions and my laboratory tries to understand how they close during a heart attack.

How do you want your research to translate to benefit patients?

The rationale for the proposed research is that … it will lead to better strategies to modulate gap junction communication that has been altered due to disease and ischemia injury.

What is the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you, professional or personal?

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

List three things few people know about you.

• I referee varsity level high school basketball in Omaha and throughout Nebraska.
  
• I enjoy working out at the gym and coach at KOSAMA.
  
• I am a huge Florida Gator football fan. Go Gators!