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Dennis Higgins, professor of pharmacology and toxicology
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. today in St. Joseph's University Church, 3275 Main St., for Dennis M. Higgins, professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Higgins died on Friday after an extended illness. He was 58.
"Dennis was a model faculty member who performed with excellence in research, teaching and service," said Ronald P. Rubin, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. "He particularly enjoyed his one-on-one interactions with the many graduate students he mentored. Their devotion to him endured long after their departure from his laboratory," Rubin said. "Dennis possessed a keen mind and a gentle sense of humor, which made him a perfect mentor of young minds."
Rubin noted that Higgins' professional approach to all aspects of his responsibilities as a faculty member contributed enormously to the intellectual climate of the department and to the medical school.
"His seminal research on dendritic growth and differentiation will remain a key contribution to the field for a long time to come and has given our school recognition at both the national and international level," he said. "His constant striving to maintain high standards for himself and the school represented an example for all to follow. There is no doubt that Dennis Higgins will be missed in so many ways."
Higgins earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Boston College and a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Connecticut Health Science Center.
He joined the UB faculty as an assistant professor in 1983 and was promoted to full professor in 1997.
Higgins' research interests focused on neurobiology, neurodegenerative disorders and signal transduction. His laboratory was working to identify the molecules that control dendritic growth in sympathetic autonomic neurons.
He was program director for developmental neuroscience for the National Science Foundation and served as a member of the NSF's Science and Technology Center Review Panel and its Developmental Neuroscience Scientific Advisory Panel.
He also was an ad hoc member and a regular member of study sections for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Author or co-author of numerous scholarly publications, Higgins was a member of the editorial board for Biomedical Research.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the college scholarship fund of Higgins' son, Derek, at any HSBC branch or at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 102 Farber Hall, South Campus.