Baylor > Biomedical Studies > Faculty > Donald M. Foster, Ph.D.

Donald M. Foster, Ph.D.

Dr. Foster is a Research Chemist and Chemical Hygiene Officer at the CTVHCS, and an Adjunct Professor in the Institute of Biomedical Studies at Baylor University. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biological sciences with graduate minors in chemistry and mathematics at the University of Houston. After postdoctoral studies in biomathematics at the University of Michigan, and physiology at Vanderbilt, he became a research chemist with the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center, and an Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of Minnesota College of Medicine. In 1976 he came to CTVHCS as a clinical chemist, and later Associate Professor of Pathology in the Texas A&M University College of Medicine. In 1987, Dr. Foster went to NASA's Johnson Space Center as a research chemist and director of the JSC clinical laboratory. While at NASA, he was sent as a team member to Kennedy Space Center for the return-to-flight mission STS-26. He later accepted the position of professor and chair of chemistry at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

In 1991, he returned to CTVHCS as a research chemist to direct a diagnostic radioimmunoassay laboratory in nuclear medicine. Dr. Foster has engaged in a wide range of academic pursuits including funded research, publication in peer-reviewed literature, publication of book chapters, invited presentations at international symposia, participation in research and professional conferences, and supervision of student research projects. His research interests include uses of isotopes in biomedical research, human chemistry, enzymology, biological cell membranes, water as a biological regulator, trace element metabolism, drug discovery, and biomathematics. Recent research has focused on design of peptide antigens to produce antibodies to specific cell membrane receptors and elucidation of cell signaling pathways regulated by cardiotonic steroid hormones. He is the Coordinator for affiliation agreements between CTVHCS and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Department of Chemistry, and Baylor University Institute of Biomedical Studies.

Dr. Foster's CV

To contact Dr. Foster, feel free to email him at Donald.Foster@med.va.gov.