Rate My Professor Paul Pilowsky

Professor Paul Pilowsky is Emeritus Professor of Physiology in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney. He trained in medicine, physiology, and neuroscience, completing clinical training before pursuing research in cardiovascular neuroscience. He held tenured professorships at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University, with the latter appointment beginning in 2012, and was named Emeritus Professor in 2019. Throughout his career, Professor Pilowsky has focused on autonomic neuroscience, contributing to understanding the neural control of cardiorespiratory functions.

His primary research specializations include the central autonomic regulation of airways, breathing, and circulation, with particular emphasis on mechanisms underlying obstructive sleep apnea, neural control of laryngeal adduction and apnea during swallowing, sympathetic responses to acute intermittent hypoxia involving PACAP-PAC1 receptor activation, and the roles of microglia and opioid receptors in medullary regions. Recent studies have explored renal denervation in polycystic kidney disease models, platinum accumulation's impact on central cardiovascular and respiratory regulation, and excitatory transmission enhancements in nucleus tractus solitarii neurons under hypoxia. Professor Pilowsky's work has garnered over 9,238 citations on Google Scholar, reflecting substantial influence in respiratory physiology, sleep disorders, and autonomic control. Key publications encompass 'Baroreceptor reflex pathways and neurotransmitters: 10 years on' (330 citations), 'Brainstem and bulbospinal neurotransmitter systems in the control of blood pressure' (315 citations), 'Limitations of the technique of pressure microinjection of excitatory amino acids for evoking responses from localized regions of the CNS' (222 citations), 'The tungstate-stabilized tetramethylbenzidine reaction for light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry and for revealing biocytin-filled neurons' (164 citations), and 'An intracellular study of respiratory neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of the rat and their relationship to catecholamine-containing neurons' (157 citations). Notable honors include Honorary Life Membership of the Australasian Neuroscience Society (2020) and the Ralph Reader Fellowship Award from the National Heart Foundation (1988).