Dr. Joseph Brayden earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (cum laude) from Union College and his doctorate in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Vermont. His colleagues and our alumni can attest to his passion and dedication to both his research and the education of his students during thirty years as a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology.

Dr. Brayden joined the faculty in 1986 and earned tenure in 1992. He was promoted to Professor in 1996. Over the past three decades, he has given generously of his time to mentor graduate students, serving on two dozen Ph.D. and master's degree thesis committees, and has also mentored multiple faculty members.

Dr. Brayden’s cutting-edge research in vascular biology is internationally respected, with over seventy-five publications in leading scientific journals and over 10,100 citations to date. His research has involved understanding mechanisms of arteriolar constriction and dilation in the brain and heart using multiple, integrative in vitro approaches. A major area of focus was on mechanisms of vasomotor action of neuropeptides. A second research focus was understanding the roles in vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells for a novel class of ion channels named Transient Receptor Potential channels.

Dr. Brayden has promoted research collaboration as an organizer of multiple international symposia on resistance arterial function and vasomotor control systems, and supported fundraising for the American Heart Association. His honors include recognition as an American Heart Association Established Investigator, election as a Fellow of the American Physiology Society-Cardiovascular Section, and recipient of a Distinguished Investigator Award from the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont.

Dr. Brayden has provided invaluable service to the University, the Larner College of Medicine, and the Department of Pharmacology by serving on sixteen committees, chairing many of them, and by serving as a faculty senator. He has received praise and admiration from peers for his thoroughness, his dedication, and his longstanding professionalism.