Professor

B.S. 1975 Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine
Ph.D. 1978 Developmental and Cell Biology (specialization: Physiology) University of California, Irvine

Dr. Mitchell is a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, hired under UF’s preeminence campaign. Dr. Mitchell leads the new UF Center for Respiratory Biology and Rehabilitation and is a member of the McKnight Brain Institute. Mitchell served as chair of the Department of Comparative Biosciences at the University of Wisconsin for 17 years and was one of the founding faculty members of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Veterinary Medicine. He was director of the Respiratory Neurobiology Training Program at the University of Wisconsin from 2002 to 2014 and was among the first to recognize the importance of neuroplasticity in respiratory motor control. He is one of the world’s top experts in this area.

Mitchell’s research lab uses a multidisciplinary approach, including neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, ventilation measurements, immunohistochemistry and cell/molecular biology techniques, including flow cytometry and RNA interference in vivo (with his laboratory being one of the first to successfully apply this technology in vivo). Mitchell has received recognition for his research and teaching accomplishments, including a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health, selection as the Steenbock Professor of Behavioral and Neural Science, multiple institutional research and teaching awards, and recognition as a plenary lecturer by the Society for Neuroscience and American Physiological Society (Comroe Lecture).