Sundberg Award

Dr. David K. Sundberg, an Associate Professor, and one of our most respected and appreciated faculty members, passed away following a long illness on April 11, 1997, at the age of 52. The David K. Sundberg fund has been created to honor his memory. Through an annual award, this Fund will honor outstanding students or alumni of the department. You can contribute to the Fund online and in the Gift Designation Information section, please type “David K. Sundberg Fund” in the Fund designation text field. You may also contact Sylvia Cook at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Office of Development at 336-716-9707 or 800-899-7128.

David Sundberg presented the physiology and pharmacology of the autonomic nervous system and related drugs to 21 years of medical student and graduate student classes. He was very active in numerous educational programs as a member of the medical school admissions committee and the graduate school council, as an instructor in NCBH residency programs, as a group facilitator in the parallel curriculum, and as research advisor and instructor to many graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

Dr. Sundberg received his Ph.D. in physiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas, under the tutelage of Dr. S.M. McCann, an preeminent neuroendocrinologist. His training continued as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. K.M. Knigge at the University of Rochester, New York, and also as Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Manchester (England), prior to coming to Wake Forest in 1976.

He had an outstanding research career, investigating factors controlling the synthesis and secretion of neuroendocrine peptides, that resulted in more than 50 papers and book chapters and an equal number of presentations at national and international research meetings. He was a frequent reviewer for prestigious journals in endocrine and neuroscience fields, and also for NIH research grant proposals.

He was a member of Sigma Xi, the Endocrine Society, The American Society of Experimental Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASPET), the American Physiological Society (APS), the Society for Neuroscience and the Western Carolina Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. He also served as the Wake Forest University School of Medicine representative to the North Carolina Governor's Institute on Alcohol and Substance Abuse.

Dave was also a much loved friend, for his generosity and kindness as well as his abundance of talents, in the laboratory and classroom, and beyond. He mastered a variety of musical instruments. He composed and sang original songs. He painted and sculpted. His presence made association among friends more enjoyable. He is continually missed by colleagues and his former students as one who can never be replaced in our lives... 

David K Sundberg Memorial Award Winners