On March 3, 2026, the UK College of Medicine Department of Physiology hosted its inaugural Melinda Wilson Lecture. This lecture series was designed to honor Melinda Wilson, PhD, a beloved colleague who passed unexpectedly in 2025.
Dr. Wilson's legacy was remembered fondly by the speaker, Dena Dubal, MD, PhD, the David A. Coulter Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease at the University of California, San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences. Dr. Dubal is an alumnus of UK's MD/PhD program and worked in the same lab as Dr. Wilson during graduate school.
Dr. Phyllis Wise, their former primary investigator and past chair of the department, also returned to honor Dr. Wilson and support Dr. Dubal. Dr. Wilson's family was in attendance, and thankful for the opportunity to connect with so many of her coworkers. In the crowd of roughly 150 attendees also sat former colleagues, employees, students, and friends of of Dr. Wilson.
During her remarks, Dr. Dubal recounted their time as students, and went on to discuss her work with longevity and the aging brain. That evening a dinner was also held in Dr. Wilson's honor. We are pleased to have had such a wonderful turnout as a memorial to a well-loved member of our department.
