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Biographical Sketch:

Harold Bell, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Physiology working within the Foundational Sciences Discipline of the CMU College of Medicine. He received his BSc(hon), MSc, and PhD from the University of Toronto in Toronto Canada. In his research there, he studied respiratory adaptation to exercise and the control of breathing at the onset of locomotor activity in healthy humans. Dr. Bell then completed Postdoctoral training in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute of the University of Calgary in Calgary, Canada. There, he utilized an invertebrate model system to study the neurophysiological basis of central respiratory rhythm generation, and the mechanisms allowing modulation of respiratory rhythm by hypoxia. Dr. Bell completed a second postdoctoral training at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, where he studied respiratory control in small and large mammalian animal models, with a focus on mechanisms regulating the generation of spontaneous augmented breaths ('sighs').

In 2009 he was appointed an Assistant Professor at Penn State Hershey, working within the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. In addition to his research, Dr. Bell was active in the education and training of graduate students, medical students, and pulmonary Fellows.

Dr. Bell's current research interests include the regulation of breathing rhythm, including augmented breath production, autoresuscitation from acute severe hypoxia, and the effects of heart failure and obesity. In addition to primary research articles, he has authored invited review articles on diverse topics, and presents regularly at national and international meetings, and is actively involved in scientific service.

Education & Fellowships:

Specialty Interests:

Respiratory control, rhythm generation, hypoxia, augmented breaths, sighs, autoresuscitation, SIDS, respiratory instability, opioids


Awards & Honors:

• Innis College Book Award (1997)
• University of Toronto Graduate Scholarship (2002-2004)
• Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship (2005-2007)
• Young Investigator Award, Oxford Conference for the Modeling and Control of Breathing (2007)
• Young Investigator Award, Oxford Conference for the Modeling and Control of Breathing (2007)
• Editorial Board Member
• Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology  -  2007-pres
• Editorial Advisory Board Member
• European Journal of Applied Physiology - 2012-pres

Memberships:

• American Physiological Society - 2003-present
• American Thoracic Society - 2010-present

Specialty in Diseases and Conditions:

Sleep apnea, SIDS, opioid induced respiratory depression, dyspnea, congenital hypoventilation syndrome, idiopathic hyperventilation syndrome, obesity hypoventilation syndrome


Language Spoken:

• English