Rate My Professor Detfel Obal

Detlef E. Obal, MD, PhD, DESA, is Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Neuroscience & Pharmacology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He directs the Obal Lab, which specializes in G-Protein Coupled Receptor biology, employing induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, personalized medicine strategies, and 3D organoids to advance drug discovery and therapeutic development. Effective January 1, 2026, Obal was appointed to his tenure-track position in the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology. Prior to joining the University of Iowa, he held the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Louisville. Obal earned his MD from Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, and his MSci and PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Louisville. As a clinician-anesthesiologist at University of Iowa Health Care, he provides perioperative care, finding profound fulfillment in supporting patients through surgery.

Obal's research centers on cardioprotection, opioid preconditioning in heart failure, and perioperative organ injury mitigation. His key publications include "Opioid Preconditioning in Heart Failure: New Frontier or Old Dog?" with Yu Liu (Anesthesia & Analgesia, 2025); "Pro-Con Debate: Opioids and Perioperative Organ Injury—Friend or Foe?" with Andrew Notarianni, Loren E. Smith, and Eric R. Gross (Anesthesia & Analgesia, 2026); "Cardioprotection by poloxamer 188 is mediated through receptor-mediated cardioprotective signaling" with Gaoxian Chen and others (Scientific Reports, 2025); "Cardiomyocyte-restricted overexpression of extracellular superoxide dismutase reduces myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury" (2012); and "The noble gas xenon induces pharmacological preconditioning in the rat heart" with Nicolai C. Weber and others (British Journal of Pharmacology, 2005). He has received funding from the University of Iowa Office of the Vice President for Research Large Grant Development Opportunity for optimizing therapeutic targets in anesthesia.