Rate My Professor John Paul Long

Dr. John Paul Long was a pioneering pharmacologist and esteemed educator in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. A lifelong Iowan born on October 4, 1926, in Albia, Iowa, he graduated from Bloomfield High School and served in the United States Army during World War II from 1944 to 1946, stationed in Hawaii. Long earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology from the University of Iowa by 1954. He married Marilyn Stookesberry on June 11, 1950, and after a brief stint at Sterling-Winthrop, dedicated over five decades to the University of Iowa faculty.

As Head of the Department of Pharmacology from 1970 to 1983, Long advanced the field through administrative leadership. Appointed Roy J. Carver Professor of Pharmacology in 1984, he held this position until retirement in 1996 and was named Professor Emeritus in 1997. His research focused on autonomic pharmacology, notably the synthesis and evaluation of cholinesterase inhibitors including hemicholinium, resulting in over 300 publications. These achievements earned him the John Jacob Abel Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 1968. An exceptional teacher, he was named Sophomore Medical Teacher of the Year several times, received the Michael J. Brody Award for Faculty Excellence in Service in 2000, and inspired a teaching award in his name. Long trained 15 MS students, 23 PhD students, and 18 postdoctoral fellows, many attaining leadership in academia and industry. His service to ASPET included roles on the council, as secretary-treasurer, and on the editorial board. Honoring his legacy, the department endowed the John Paul and Marilyn Long Chair of Pharmacology.