Donald R. Dengel, Ph.D., professor of exercise physiology in the School of Kinesiology, has been awarded the Henry L. Taylor-Arthur S. Leon Professorship in Exercise Science and Health Enhancement.

Dr. Dengel is the director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology, which provides clinical vascular, metabolic, exercise and body composition testing for researchers across the University of Minnesota. He also directs the Human Performance Teaching Laboratory for the School of Kinesiology, which is one of the leading teaching facilities for both human and exercise physiology as well as anatomy and biomechanics laboratory methods. Dengel has published over 150 scientific manuscripts and 6 book chapters in the area of body composition, insulin sensitivity, oxygen uptake kinetics and vascular structure and function in children, adults and athletes. He is the principal investigator or co-investigator on a series of grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and NFL Charities. Dengel is a fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the American Heart Association.

The endowed professorship was held previously by Arthur S. Leon, M.D., who is retiring this summer after 45 years of groundbreaking research, teaching, and service at the University of Minnesota. He has held the Henry L. Taylor Professorship in Exercise Science and Health Enhancement since he came to the School of Kinesiology from Public Health in 1992. The professorship was renamed in his honor.