Professor Church grew up in Virginia and received a B.S. in Chemistry at James Madison University.  After taking a year off to work in a hospital where he realized that studying the chemical causes of psychoactive drug side effects would be much more interesting than studying medicine, he obtained his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Emory University in Atlanta GA.  It was here that he was able to form a happy marriage between his two favorite science interests: analytical instrumentation and neuroscience.  Having never been west of the Mississippi, he accepted a postdoctoral appointment at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. working in the Clayton Foundation Peptide Biology Lab for Wiley Vale.  He initially came to Trinity in 1988 as a Visiting Professor in the Chemistry Department and was fortunate to be able to return to Trinity in 1995 in a joint appointment in the Chemistry Department and the Neuroscience Program.  He serves on the Health Professions Advising Committee, the IACUC, and is the faculty liaison for both the Women's Soccer team and the Softball team.

Publications Co-authored with Undergraduates (underline denotes undergraduate author):

• Church, W.H., Adams, R.E., and Wyss, L.S. "Ketogenic Diet Alters Dopaminergic Activity in the Mouse Cortex." Neurosci. Lett. 571 (2014): 1-4.
• Garritt, J.L. and Church W.H. "Monomeric and Polymer ß-cyclodextrins Impart Unique Separation Effects When Used As Buffer Modifiers in Capillary Zone Electrophoresis." J. Undergrad. Chem. Res. 1 (2007): 41-46.
• McGovern,R.A. and Church W.H. "The Role of N-methyl-D-aspartate Receptors in MPP+ Toxicity in Murine Cell Cultures." J. Behav. Neurosci. Res. 1 (2003): 13.
• Church, W.H. and  Rappolt, G. "Nigrostriatal Catecholamine Metabolism is Altered by Purine Enzyme Inhibition." Exp. Brain Res. 127 (1999): 147-150.
• Church, W.H., Lee, C.S., and Dranchak, K.M. "Capillary Electrophoresis of Glutamate and Aspartate in Rat Brain Dialysate: Improvements in Detection and Analysis Time Using Cyclodextrins." J Chrom B, Biomed Appl 700 (1997): 67-75.
• Church, W.H., Hu, S.S., and Henry, A.J. "Thermal Degradation of Injectable Epinephrine." American Journal of Emergency Medicine 12 (1994): 306-309.
• Grant, T.A., Carroll, R.G., Church, W.H., Henry, A., Prasad, N.H., Adel-Rahman, A.A., and Allison, E.J., Jr. "Environmental Temperature Variations Cause Degradations in Epinephrine Concentration and Biological Activity." American Journal of Emergency Medicine 12 (1994): 319-322.

Presentations by Undergraduates (asterisk denotes presenter; underline denotes undergraduate author):

• A.M. Nicaise*, K.M. Johnson, S.J. Crocker, W.H. Church. "TIMP-1 Modulation of Cell Death in Undifferentiated Neuroblastoma Cells." Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA, November 2013.
• Nicaise, A.M.*, Crocker, S.A., and Church, W.H. "The Investigation of Glial-derived Factors affecting Neuroblastoma Cell Death." North East Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (N.E.U.R.O.N.), Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, April 7, 2013.
• Thornton, E.*, and Church, W.H. "The Effect of Six-Hour PGE2 Treatment on Rotenone-induced Apoptosis Levels in SH-SY5Y Cells." North East Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (N.E.U.R.O.N.), Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, April 7, 2013.
• Adams, R.*, and Church, W.H. "Determination of Catecholamine Content Changes in Mouse Brain Follwing Chronic Ketogenic Diet." North East Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (N.E.U.R.O.N.), Quinnipiac University, Hamden CT, April 7, 2013.
• Mullin, A.P., Liu, T., and Church, W.H.* "Prostoglandin E2 (PGE2) Reduces Rotenone-Induced Apoptosis in SH-SY5Y Cells." Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 16, 2011.
• Nicaise, A.M.*, Scinto, S.* and Church, W.H. "Changes in Purine Tissue Content in Various Brain Structures of Rats Fed a Ketogenic Diet." North East Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (N.E.U.R.O.N.), Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, November 6, 2011.
• Hathway, P.E.* and Church, W.H. "The Effect of the Antioxidants Ascorbic Acid and Uric Acid on Human Neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y Cells." North East Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (N.E.U.R.O.N.), Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT, Nov. 6, 2011.
• Pierce, L.* and Church, W.H. "Differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells by Retinoic Acid: Protection Against Neurotoxicity?" American Chemical Society Connecticut Valley Section 2011 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 30, 2011.
• Mansoory, S.S.*, Lopez-Casanova, A., Suter, T., Masino, S., Ruskin, D., and Church, W.H. "Determination of Purine Content Changes in Rat Brain Following Chronic Ketogenic Diet." American Chemical Society Connecticut Valley Section 2011 Undergraduate Research Symposium, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 30, 2011.
• Mullin, A.P.* and Church, W.H. "Prostoglandin E2 Reduces Rotenone-induced Apoptosis in SH-SY5Y Cells." North East Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Simmons College, Boston, MA, Nov. 8, 2008.

• Trinity College Faculty Research Grants and Summer Research Assistants Grants
  
• National Institutes of Health - AREA(R15) grant
  
• Research Corporation
• North Carolina Biotechnology Center
• Donaghue Medical Research Foundation
• American Chemical Society - Project SEED
• Undergraduate Research Fellowship – Pfizer Global Research and Development and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Research Associate Program
• Consortium for High Achievement and Success (CHAS)