Joe Houmard
This spring, ECU’s Office of Research introduced the Order of the Anchor, recognizing an elite group of faculty and staff who have secured more than $1 million in grant funds in a single year.
Joe Houmard
Hitting this mark once in a career is extraordinary, but some have achieved it multiple times. The funding that drives discovery and fuels innovation has also elevated ECU’s national profile, playing a key role in the university’s recent designation as an R1 research institution.
In its inaugural year, the society recognized 45 researchers who collectively brought in $153.7 million since 2020. Among them is Joseph Houmard of the College of Health and Human Performance and recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research from ECU.
During more than three decades at ECU, Houmard has advanced the field of exercise physiology, particularly through his research on skeletal muscle metabolism and the prevention and treatment of obesity and diabetes. He has secured more than $16 million in external research funding throughout his career. Notably, he served as ECU’s principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health-funded Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium, a $170 million multi-institutional initiative exploring the molecular impacts of exercise.
Another major contribution is his leadership in the STRRIDE (Studies of Targeted Risk Reduction Interventions Through Defined Exercise) trials – large-scale studies examining how different exercise regimens affect metabolism and overall health. This research demonstrated that moderate-intensity exercise can significantly improve the body’s ability to process sugars and fats, helping to shape exercise guidelines.
“We found that it takes very little exercise to make a person healthier,” Houmard said. “Walking at a brisk pace can improve your health status and how your body responds to what you eat.”
His findings have shaped global exercise and diabetes management guidelines and reflect the bold, impactful work being done at ECU – work that continues to chart new frontiers in health and science.
– Kim Tilghman
Debra Jackson, dean of the Graduate School, has been appointed to serve on the executive committee of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools, an organization of more than 200 graduate schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia. CSGS considers topics related to graduate study and research, promotes educational standards and encourages research, serves as a liaison on behalf of its members and organizes the annual Three Minute Thesis competition. Jackson’s term will continue until 2028.
Angela Lamson, the Nancy W. Darden Distinguished Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, has received the 2024 Governor James E. Holshouser, Jr. Award for Excellence in Public Service from the University of North Carolina System. Lamson joined the ECU faculty in 1999 and co-created the first medical family therapy doctoral program in the nation in 2005. She served as interim assistant vice chancellor for economic and community engagement from 2022-2024 and is a senior fellow for the ECU Office of Innovation and Engagement. She earned the ECU Distinguished Graduate Faculty Mentor Award last year and in 2022 received the ECU Research & Creative Activity Lifetime Achievement Award.
Tom Irons, a retired pediatrician at the Brody School of Medicine, has received the Spirit of Free and Charitable Clinics award from the state association of the same name. The association says the Spirit Award celebrates Irons’ “sacrifice, compassion and contributions” to the cause. Today, Irons is medical director of Access East, which handles Medicaid care management and uninsured care for patients at ECU Health. He also serves as the medical director for the N.C. Agromedicine Institute. He spends a few hours each week helping administer the JOY Community Center and Soup Kitchen in Greenville.
Brian Dietrick, a teaching assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Cincinnati School of Information Technology. He graduated from the school at the top of his class in 2001. Dietrick began working at ECU in 2023 and teaches data structures; software architecture and design; requirements of engineering; explorations and computing; and software project management.
