Shelton named distinguished researcher

Steven E. Shelton, a researcher in the UW Medical School’s department of psychiatry and the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, has been named a distinguished researcher. He is the first member of the university’s academic staff to receive the “superstar” researcher recognition.

Shelton studies the neurobiology of emotions, concentrating on the role a specific area of the brain, the amygdala, plays in fear-related behavior. The research features non-human primates, but should ultimately provide important insights into the effects of fear on the psychological and physiological health of humans, including the development of anxiety and depression.

Promotion to the rank of distinguished researcher is reserved for UW–Madison academic staff whose superlative accomplishments are evidenced by widespread peer recognition.

“Steve Shelton is recognized nationally and internationally as an outstanding scientist,” said long-time collaborator Dr. Ned Kalin, the Hedberg professor and chair of the department of psychiatry. “His scientific contributions have very clearly advanced the field of psychobiology.”

For 31 years Shelton has been on the front lines of academic research at UW–Madison. His list of refereed research publications and book chapters rivals that of many tenured faculty with similar experience. He has given presentations and co-authored abstracts for presentations at more than 60 international meetings.

A New Mexico native, Shelton first came to work at UW–Madison’s Primate Center during summer vacations as an undergraduate at UNM. Almost all the research he’s conducted since has involved monkeys, most recently with a colony of free-ranging rhesus macaques that inhabit a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Over the course of his career, Shelton has developed several unique experimental techniques and testing paradigms that researchers around the world have adopted. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have sought him out as a consultant for his expertise.

The UW scientist has also worked as a researcher at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital and the UW Medical School’s department of medical physics. For the past 11 years his base has been the psychiatry department, where he’s been responsible for designing and executing laboratory and field experiments for several projects involving primates.

Students of all levels have been welcomed in his laboratories and have benefitted from training Shelton has provided. He’s taught research skills to more than 200 undergraduate, graduate, medical and post-graduate students, many of whom have gone on to related research careers.

Shelton has also been active outside the laboratory. He’s organized several international professional meetings held at UW–Madison, was instrumental in arranging for the Primate in Art and Illustration Exhibit to be displayed on campus, and is active in the Percent for Art Selection Committee for the Primate Center’s Housing Addition Project.