Tim Bartness died on September 24, 2015 in Atlanta, GA. He was 62 years old and had been battling multiple myeloma. His impact on obesity and ingestive behavior research and on his fellow scientists is noteworthy. His interests were broad and he contributed insightfully to our knowledge of adipose (WAT and BAT) sympathetic and sensory nervous system innervation, neural control of WAT lipolysis and BAT thermogenesis, obesity reversal, neural control of foraging and hoarding, and photoperiodism/melatonin receptor signaling. Tim's work has been funded by a National Institutes of Health grant for 27 consecutive years and was recently renewed for the next 10 years via a NIDDK MERIT Award. His work is widely cited and can fairly be said to have changed thinking about the brain-adipose and adipose-brain axes.

Tim demonstrated his leadership in many ways including multiple and continuous stints on NIH study sections were he was a tireless advocate for the support of quality neural and neurobehavioral research on energy balance control and an incessant voice for the inclusion of appropriate peer reviewers on otherwise diverse panels. He was an advocate for early career investigators in various ways including his championing the inclusion of the professional development session at the SSIB annual meeting. At Georgia State University, his long-term home, he taught a course he designed called “survival skills” to enhance the writing and presentation skills so important for graduate student success. He was active in three scientific societies, SSIB, the Obesity Society (TOS formerly NAASO) and the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. His heart was closest to SSIB and he worked for its success in many ways including service as President, on its Board, and as an ardent advocate for annual giving. Tim was a dedicated mentor of graduate students (Masters [7] and Ph.Ds [15]), postdocs [13] and research scientists [2]. Tim's loyalty and generosity were among his most admirable qualities and the impact of his death is reverberating and will reverberate among his numerous colleagues and many friends and trainees across the world. A fuller remembrance and discussion of Tim's scientific career will follow in the spring SSIB Newsletter; others will appear in Obesity and American Journal of Physiology

 

Written by: Harvey Grill