Indiana University celebrated the appointment of 15 faculty members as distinguished professors during virtual symposia starting Oct. 21. Distinguished professor is the highest academic title for IU's most outstanding and renowned scholars and researchers. This is the largest number of new distinguished professors to be appointed in the university's history.

The record number is being recognized in honor of IU's Bicentennial Year and to highlight the remarkable research, scholarship and creative accomplishments of IU's past and present faculty as well as their public impact over the past 200 years.

Below are brief biographies of the appointees:

Loren Field

Loren Field is a professor of medicine, of physiology and biophysics, and of pediatrics in the School of Medicine. Field and his IU colleagues were the first to show that relatively simple genetic modifications can induce mammalian heart cells to regenerate. His current research is focused on identifying genes and molecules that promote heart muscle regeneration by coaxing healthy cells to proliferate. The success of this research would offer the potential for seriously ill patients whose tissue has been damaged by heart attack to "re-grow" their own hearts.

David Giedroc

David Giedroc is a Lilly Chemistry Alumni Professor and director of the Graduate Training Program in Quantitative and Chemical Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. His research interests include the biophysical chemistry of infectious disease. Giedroc is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Roger Innes

Roger Innes is a Class of 1954 Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. His lab work primarily focuses on understanding the genetic and biochemical basis of disease resistance in plants. He's investigating how plants are able to recognize pathogens and actively respond. The research is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and the NovoNordisk Foundation and has recently been featured in The Scientist Magazine.

G. David Roodman

G. David Roodman is the Kenneth Wiseman Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine. His research focuses on osteoclasts and osteoblast activity in both normal and pathological states, including Paget's disease and multiple myeloma. Roodman's lab pioneered the development of long-term marrow culture techniques to study osteoclast differentiation and activity.