Distinguished Service Award

Since 2020, Dr. Palladino has been Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Bloomfield College in New Jersey. He received his B.S. in Biology from Trenton State College (now known as The College of New Jersey) in 1987. From 1987 to 1988, he studied nucleic acid biochemistry and molecular biology of DNA triple-helix formation in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. In 1994, he completed a Ph.D. in Anatomy and Cell Biology from the University of Virginia where he studied genes involved in protecting spermatozoa from oxidative damage and mechanisms of gene expression regulation by sex steroids in the mammalian testis and epididymis. From 1994 to 1999 Dr. Palladino was a faculty member in the Biology Department at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ. In 1999, he joined the faculty at Monmouth University and served as Dean of the School of Science from 2008-15, and as Vice Provost for Graduate Studies from 2015-19. He completed the Academic leadership Academy at Penn State University. Dr. Palladino’s research has been on the protection of spermatozoa and cells of the male excurrent tract from the insults of foreign microorganisms and reactive oxygen species, and molecular mechanisms of testicular torsion injury. Much of his work has focused on antimicrobial signaling in the epididymis and testis via Toll-like receptor (TLR) pathways, and roles of the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1 in oxygen homeostasis in the testis and the protection of Leydig cells from apoptosis following testis ischemia.  

Dr. Palladino has been a member of ASA since 1989. He received the ASA New Investigator Award in 1993 and the ASA Young Andrologist Award (now the Matthew P. Hardy Young Andrologist Award) in 2009. Since his days as a trainee, he has served ASA in numerous ways and his colleagues underline his active participation in virtually all aspects of service to the Society. Dr. Palladino is an immediate Past President of the Society, responsible for overseeing the 2022 Conference Program Committee and organizing the 47^th Annual Conference in La Jolla, CA; at the same time he also served as Chair of the Nominating Committee, a role he has continued in. As ASA President, he chaired the ASA Strategic Planning Committee, leading to the development of the 2021-2026 Strategic Plan. Importantly, he is currently chairing the Strategic Planning Implementation Committee to make sure the plan is implemented and not simply shelved away. Highlights of Dr. Palladino’s time as Vice-President/President-Elect are his role in chairing the committee that developed and presented a successful bid awarded to ASA to host the 2025 International Congress of Andrology in Washington, DC and his leadership on the Association Management Selection Committee. Through his time as Vice-President, President, and Immediate Past-President, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, he is credited with playing a pivotal role in holding the Society together with his calm, deliberate manner, his integrity, his wise guidance and his excellent management skills.

Amongst Dr. Palladino’s other contributions to ASA are his participation in and/or chairing of (often over multiple years), many committees including Trainee Affairs, Finance, Future Meetings, Future Program,  Ethics, ASA Program, Journal Oversight, Endowment and Development, Diversity Affairs, Andrology Lab Workshop, and Journal of Andrology Editorial Board.  He is lauded for his long institutional memory concerning how issues have been handled over the years and his ability to locate key documents (e.g. minutes, budget spreadsheets) to support his recollections.  Notably, in a role critical for the next generation of Andrologists, he was a member of the Trainee Affairs Committee from 2001-19 (Chair 2005-2009). As Chair of Trainee Affairs, Dr. Palladino developed the proposal passed by Council (now the ASA Board of Directors) to have a trainee rep on Council and worked with the Chair of the Minority Affairs Committee to initiate the mentoring luncheon that continues to be part of our ASA meetings. His initiative to involve trainees in the ASA leadership has mentored, encouraged and facilitated trainees moving into leadership roles as chairs, on the ASA Board of Directors and even as officers.

In recognition of his exemplary commitment and role as a stable and influential leader in ASA for numerous years and his many, many contributions that have been important in guaranteeing the continued success of the Society, the American Society of Andrology is pleased to present the 2023 Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Michael Palladino.