Reporter Volume 25, No.29 June 13, 1994

By MARK WALLACE
Reporter Staff
It's a long way from a small town in the western India state of
Gujarat to a major departmental chair at UB. But that's exactly how
far Mulchand S. Patel, chair of the UB Department of Biochemistry
since May 1993, has come.
	"My father was a great influence on me," says Patel, who came
to UB after successful careers at Temple University and Case Western
Reserve University. "Although he had no formal education beyond grade
school, the emphasis he put on hard work has been central to what I've
become."
	Patel left his home town at age 12, to attend a boarding
school in the town of Kadi. "Along with my father's influence, staying
at that high school imprinted on me the importance of a number of
values and character traits," Patel says. "The basic principles of the
school were simplicity, dedication, taking responsibility, and seeing
things through. People there showed me how important it was to be an
example not by telling, but by doingQthey put into action what they
were preaching."
	Patel says he's always been interested in science, although at
one point he thought he would be a doctor or engineer. But after
finishing his B.S. at Gujarat University, he worked as a chemist for a
penicillin manufacturer. It was there that he met his first
biochemist, who trained Patel on the job. 
	"The University of Baroda in the city where I was working, had
a biochemistry department, and so I opted for a master's in
biochemistry," Patel says.
	Patel did so well at the University of Baroda, which he
revisited in 1987 as a Fulbright Research Scholar, that he earned an
assistantship at the University of Illinois at Urbana. "It was the
goal of continuing my education that first brought me to the United
States in 1965," Patel says.
	"Coming to the United States was very exciting in many ways,"
Patel says. "There were so many opportunities for education. But I
came to Illinois in the middle of the winter with  one small jacketQwe
never had snow where I was from."
	After earning his Ph.D., Patel went to Temple University as a
postdoctoral fellow, and it was there that he formed a friendship with
Richard W. Hansen that turned out to be central both to his career and
his life. "Richard was a young assistant professor at Temple then, and
I worked very closely with him," Patel says. "He was a very good
mentor and colleague, and we've been friends now for 25 years."
	Patel stayed on at Temple for 10 years, earning the rank of
associate professor. But when Hansen became chair of biochemistry at
Case Western, he offered Patel a job that Patel says "I  couldn't
refuse."  He worked at Case Western for 15 years before coming to UB.
	"Being chair of the Department of Biochemistry here at UB has
been a learning and rewarding experience," Patel says. "The university
has provided us with many opportunities to enhance our educational
offerings at the undergraduate, graduate and professional school
level."
	Keeping pace with an important national trend, UB is moving in
the direction of combining various graduate programs in the biomedical
sciences so that students receive better training, Patel says. "This
process will revitalize and strengthen graduate education," he says.
	Along with his administrative duties, Patel also remains
active as a teacher and researcher. 
	Patel, who has received numerous NIH study grants and has
participated on the national and international level in NIH study
sessions, is currently involved in two areas of research. One explores
macromolecules in the multi-enzyme complex that is involved in
carbohydrate metabolism and oxidation. The other looks at the
influence of early nutritional experience on  long-term consequences
of body metabolism and the development of obesity.
	"I'm trying to understand the interaction between nutrition
hormones and whole body metabolism," Patel says. "Although I do animal
and not human research, this research does have certain linkages to
understand what could happen in humans, and why obesity is so
prevalent in this country."
	He is enthusiastic about  changes at UB that will better
support research activities. "The School of Medicine and Biomedical
Sciences is going through a phase of trying to provide new and better
facilities for research," Patel says. "Many researchers are also
forming affinity groups with researchers in other areas who have
common interests, and such interactions are a positive step. And the
Department of Biochemistry is enhancing its capacities by hiring new
people. We have a very supportive administration for what we're trying
to achieve."