David Poole

I am a University Distinguished Professor and hold the Coffman Chair for Distinguished University Teaching Scholars and the Elizabeth Chapin Burke Chair in Health and Human Sciences at Kansas State University. I am a scientist and educator in the departments of Kinesiology and Anatomy & Physiology.  Together with Dr. Tim Musch I direct a cadre of graduate students and colleagues in the Clarenburg Cardiorespiratory Laboratory. Our research focusses on understanding the fundamental processes controlling skeletal muscle oxygen delivery and use during exercise.  Oxygen transport pathway limitations in heart failure, diabetes and lung disease erode the person’s quality of life, exacerbating mortality and morbidity.  Using animal models from the mouse, rat, dog, horse to elephant and human we have unveiled the dynamics of blood-tissue oxygen transport during exercise. Our original data-based capillary function model has driven a paradigm shift in our understanding of microvascular function: Identifying novel targets for pharmacological and behavioral interventions.  Our long-term goal is to promote an accurate understanding of these processes especially in higher education and translate them into enhanced scientific discovery and patient care.

I was the American Physiological Society’s (APS) 2018 Adolph Distinguished Lecturer, the America College of Sport Medicine’s 2021 Wolffe Memorial Lecturer and presented the 2022 Historical Lecture at Experimental Biology in Philadelphia. In 2023, representing APS’s apex journal, FUNCTION, I was invited to present the latest capillary function models at The German National Academies of Science in Halle, Germany. I am an APS and ACSM Fellow and won the Higuchi Dolph Simons Award in 2024 which is Kansas’ top academic honor.

Born in Kenya, raised in Wales and now “adopted’ by the U.S. I competed nationally and internationally in judo and now play semi-competitive squash, kayak, cycle and enjoy travelling with my wife, Katherine, and son, Kelton. I have served as President of the Central States ACSM, Chair and past-Chair of the Environmental & Exercise Physiology section of APS and am currently appointed as Experimental Physiology Deputy Editor-in-Chief (U.S.).