Faculty member honored with 2023 Excellence Award for Assistant Professors

Dr. Aaron Mickle, a faculty member in the UF College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Physiological Sciences, has received a 2023 Excellence Award for Assistant Professors from the University Provost’s Office.

Mickle joined UF’s faculty in 2021 as an assistant professor. His main research focuses on studying the nervous system’s contribution to bladder dysfunction and pain. There are two primary arms to his research program. The first is to study the role of bladder endothelial cells in bladder sensation and pain related to bladder diseases such as interstitial cystitis and overactive bladder. The second focuses on the development of therapeutics, such as pharmaceutical and implantable devices, as treatments for bladder dysfunction following spinal cord injury.

He has published 30 papers, including work in highly-ranked journals, such as Nature, Neuron, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Scientific Advances.  He has been invited to present at multiple institutions and international conferences. Since arriving to UF, Dr. Mickle has received a NIH R21 grant, a NIH R01 grant and the Rita Allen Foundation Award.

In addition to a successful lab, Mickle has initiated a mentoring workshop for the college. Through this effort, he will continue to impact and build up existing and future trainees for the college and university at large.

The Provost’s Office offers the Excellence Awards for Assistant Professors to recognize junior faculty for excellence in research. Awards consist of a one-time allocation of $5,000 in support of research that can be used to fund travel, equipment, books, graduate students and other research-related expenses.