The Extraordinary Achievements of John Faulkner

The Extraordinary Achievements of John Faulkner

1923- 2022

The John A. Faulkner Collegiate professorship was established in 2010 through a generous gift from fellow U-M faculty member John Faulkner, Ph.D., and his wife, Margaret Faulkner. Their gift, along with additional donations from faculty, former trainees and friends of the Faulkners within and outside the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology - will also help to establish the John and Margaret Faulkner Lectureship and Educational Fund.

Both funds honor a man whose long and diverse career as a coach, teacher and scientist has resulted in many contributions toward the understanding of the physiology of humans - particularly the structure and function of skeletal muscles and their response to exercise and aging.

Born in 1923 and raised in a working-class neighborhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, John Faulkner was a skilled athlete, but demonstrated little interest in the academic side of high school life. World War II began in 1939, and immediately after graduating from high school in 1942, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was accepted for aircrew training and he received his ‘wings’ in 1943. Following operational training in Canada, he was posted overseas to a Royal Air Force fighter squadron in England. He completed an operational tour in the European Theater in 1945.

When WWII ended in 1945, Dr. Faulkner entered Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and graduated in 1950 with a degree in biology. He then obtained a teaching certificate and taught high school biology for five years. During the summer holidays, he attended the U-M and earned a master’s degree in science in 1956. He accepted a position on the education faculty at the University of Western Ontario and continued to attend the U-M, where he fulfilled residency requirements for a doctorate in education in 1960.

That same year, Dr. Faulkner was hired by the U-M School of Education to establish an exercise physiology laboratory. With considerable assistance from the legendary Horace H. Davenport, chair of the U-M Department of Physiology, he developed a graduate course in human physiology for kinesiology students. He earned his doctorate in 1962 and stayed on as a full-time faculty member in the School of Education until 1966. He then contemplated a career change

to physiology, and when Davenport heard of these plans he offered Dr. Faulkner an associate professorship in physiology. Since then, Dr. Faulkner’s wisdom, experience and gentle sense of humor have influenced generations of Medical School students and faculty. He was promoted to professor in 1971.

During his 50-year career at the U-M, Dr. Faulkner participated in the establishment of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and has mentored and collaborated with students and faculty from across many disciplines, including physiology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, biomedical engineering, orthopedic surgery, kinesiology and biogerontology. He was appointed professor of biomedical engineering in 1997.

Dr. Faulkner is considered a pioneer investigator in the fields of muscle physiology, biogerontology and biomedical engineering. He had a long-term interest in the loss of muscle mass and strength that is experienced by all mammalian species during aging. Between ages 50-80, humans lose almost half the number of muscle fibers that they had in their 20s. Even highly conditioned athletes suffer this loss of muscle fibers. “Consequently, staying active throughout one’s life span is vitally important in order to maintain the viability of the muscle fibers that remain,” he said.

Dr. Faulkner received many awards, including the Honor Award from the American College of Sports Medicine, the U-M Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, the Bioengineering Program’s Glenn Edmonson Award, the School of Kinesiology’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the William C. Grabb Medal of Honor from the Reed O. Dingman Society of Plastic Surgery. In 2009, he was the recipient of the U-M’s Lifetime Service Award.

*Adapted from an article by Kevin Bergquist, Medical School Development

John and Margaret Faulkner Lectureship You will be supporting an annual lectureship by a prominent invited speaker selected by the students and faculty in honor of John and Margaret Faulkner. Donate online at http://victors.us/faulknerfund

Working with John: Shared by Jane Coffey

John never made you feel like you were interrupting him. If you stopped by his office unexpectedly, he would stop what he was doing and flash his genuine smile. He was always ready to give you his full attention. He would delight in everyday things: a ray of sunshine through his BSRB office window might move him to stand up and give you a high five and say “it’s a great day for tennis, don’t you think?”

If you stopped by later in the day, he would often begin with, “did I ever tell you about . . .” His eyes shone as he related tales about Horace Davenport, his first-hand experience on D-Day, his childhood in Canada or one of the many stories about his beloved family “Peg, Meg, and Mel.”

We were so lucky to have John in our lives. He taught us through his actions to take time and enjoy what’s important in life. His enthusiasm and appreciation for life was inspiring. Thanks for the lessons, John! You will be greatly missed.

An honor bestowed: Shared by Ormond MacDougald

The Dean booked an appointment with me to talk about the innovative things I'd been working on for the MIP graduate program, and to my amazement, when I entered his conference room, I found John and Margaret Faulkner sitting at the table beaming at me. That was when I first learned that a John A. Faulkner Collegiate Professorship was being created, and that I was going to be the inaugural recipient. It was one of those rare surprises that occur in our professional lives, and I'll cherish it forever. I was thrilled to be chosen because I held John in such high regard - he was a legend in the department for the great research and well-trained personnel coming out of his lab. His holding court at the Experimental Biology meetings, surrounded by his current and former trainees, was something I aspired to. In a departmental seminar, John's presentation of his data on the inexorable loss of muscle fibers as we age definitely made a lasting impression! In that regard, his reputation for being 'Iron John' was borne out by his biking into work well into his 80s, including the stretch from Angelos to the Physiology Department, a feat which impressed me greatly since I often had to jump off my bike and walk that section. I would often see him at Geddy's Park - I would be pushing one of my children on a swing, and he would bicycle by and yell out a greeting, or he would stop to chat for a minute. We often bonded over our shared Canadian roots. I also have fond memories from the Faulkner Professorship Ceremony of John and my father discussing their war time experiences - both were in the Air Force during WWII, John as a pilot and my dad as a tail-gunner. I will miss sitting beside John at the Annual John and Margaret Lectureship of Physiology, and smiling at him while I introduce the speaker, something that I looked forward to each year. I feel privileged that through the Faulkner's generous gifts to the department, I was able to spend time with such an interesting and accomplished role model. John has been an inspiration to generations of scientists, myself included, and I am deeply honored to hold the professorship that bears his name.