Dr. Grant Simmons

November 25 2008, 9:18am

I wanted to take a moment to publicly congratulate my brother, who successfully presented his dissertation research last Friday to earn his PhD in human physiology and become "Dr. Grant Simmons."There are not many people in the world who could take a topic like "Cutaneous vasodilation at altitude: impacts on human thermoregulation and vasoconstrictor function" and, even with the word "altitude" under contention, present it in such a way that almost anyone can follow what he's saying. There are even fewer people who can present it in such a way that almost anyone would follow what he's saying. But my brother, of whom I'm so immensely proud, is one of those people. Over the past 9.5 years that he's been at the University of Oregon, I've watched him grow from a directionless teenager to a respected scientist. The change has been amazing to watch, and the work I've witnessed him undertake has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. My younger brother has become a respected researcher in his field (I can't exactly tell you what that is, but it's true), a loving husband, and - to me - a role model. Congratulations, Grant!

`put your comments code in here