Texas A&M University Veterinary Medicine
& Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University Veterinary Medicine
& Biomedical Sciences
Christopher Quick

Christopher Quick

Retired Professor Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology
Contact
CQuick@cvm.tamu.edu
9798452645
TAMU Mailstop: 4466

Research and Scholarly Interests

Vascular adaptation, mathematical modeling, heart-arterial interaction, interstitial fluid balance, lymphatic function, undergraduate research

Education

  • BSE Bioengineering 1993
  • MSE Bioengineering 1993
  • PhD Biomedical Engineering 1999

Biography

Dr. Christopher Quick is a Professor of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology at Texas A&M University. Since joining Texas A&M in 2002, he has been on the forefront of collaborative efforts to create innovative pedagogical and administrative models to transform higher education. To achieve goals of the Quality Enhancement Plan, in 2016 he worked with colleagues to create the undergraduate Biomedical Research Certificate (BRC) Program and the Aggie Research Program (ARP). To increase scalability, he collaborated with faculty and students design BRC and ARP to accommodate multiple tracks to retain pedagogical rigor while capturing administrative efficiencies of scale. Partnering with centers and institutes, he has created multiple research leadership programs and spearheaded NIH-funded collaborations to prepare graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to lead research teams, teach course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), and create their own innovative programs. Working directly with students, he grew these programs 30% a year for the first five years. By the end of five years the ARP and BRC together created more than half of all research opportunities for freshman and sophomores at TAMU and became the largest undergraduate research program in the nation. These programs created research and leadership opportunities for more than 10,000 participants since 2016.

Dr. Quick has been awarded a university-level Association of Former Students Award for Teaching Excellence as well as a University Professorship in Undergraduate Teaching Excellence. In his capacity as Executive Director of the Aggie Research Program and its successor Aggie Collaborate, he continues striving to ensure that everyone can leverage their unique strengths and create opportunities for themselves by collaborating with others. He is currently focused on accelerating propagation of his program to partnering universities across the nation to transform higher education in response to the Great Disruption of 2025.  

Dr. Quick is a neurodivergent professor who had struggled for years in isolation to learn from traditional lecture classes. As an undergraduate, he was denied one of the limited opportunities to join a small undergraduate research program, and was advised to discontinue seeking leadership positions that leverage his unique strengths and instead seek remediation for his deficits. After his inability to get himself organized led to missing the deadline to drop out of school, he took the opportunity to challenge the proposition that he was the problem that needed to be fixed. Since then, he has never stopped seeking collaborators.

  • Strategies to increase research capacity in higher education
  • Structuring research communities of practice
  • Higher education leadership
  • Sustainable and scalable high-impact pedagogical models
  • Developing DEI alternatives that create enough opportunities for every student
  • Cardiovascular physiology

1) Pulsatile hemodynamics heart-arterial interaction. My graduate work focused on pulsatile blood flow, which has slowly developed into mathematical modeling of heart-arterial interaction and adaptation vascular networks. My work has shown that there are fundamental limits to what clinically-relevant information can be retrieved from hemodynamic data. I have also developed a series of mathematical models that predict the caliber of blood vessels based on simple adaptive rules, explaining how the complexity of the cardiovascular system emerges from sensing local mechanical stimuli in health and disease.

  • Quick CM, Young WL, Leonard EF, Joshi S, Gao E, Hashimoto T.  Model of structural and functional adaptation of small conductance vessels to arterial hypotension Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 279: H1645-H1653, 2000. (PMID: 11009451)
  • Quick CM, Young WL, Noordergraaf A.  Infinite number of solutions to the hemodynamic inverse problem. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 280: H1472-H1479, 2001. (PMID: 11247756)
  • Nguyen PH, Tuzun E, Quick CM. Aortic pulse pressure homeostasis emerges from adaption of systemic arteries to local mechanical stresses. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 311: R522-R531, 2016. (PMID: 27306830)
  • Stiles TJ, Morfin Rodriguez AE, Mohiuddin HS, Lee H, Dalal FA, Fuertes WW, Adams TH, Stewart RH, Quick CM. Algebraic formulas characterizing an alternative to Guyton’s graphical analysis relevant to heart failure. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 320: R851-R870, 2021. (PMID: 33596744)

2) Lymphatic function and fluid balance regulation. Much of my work at Texas A&M has focused on identifying the mechanisms that regulate interstitial fluid volume. This has included developing a mathematical model for fluid balance that integrates microvascular filtration, interstitial volume storage, and return of fluid to the blood circulation. This model has since been used by numerous investigators to explain the formation and resolution of edema. I used it to develop new techniques to measure parameters such as microvascular filtration and organ transudation. I have also leveraged my background in biomechanics to discover how lymphatic vessels adapt to overcome edema, as well as the fundamental concept of lymphatic pump-conduit duality that has become the basis of interpreting adaptive responses to high and low tissue fluid volumes.

  • Dongaonkar RM, Laine GA, Stewart RH, Quick CM. Balance point characterization of interstitial fluid volume regulation. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 297: R6-R16, 2009. (PMID: 19420292)
  • Quick CM, Ngo B, Venugopal AM, Stewart RH. Lymphatic pump-conduit duality: contraction of post-nodal lymphatic vessels inhibits passive flow.  Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 296: H662-668, 2009. (PMID: 19122167)
  • Quick CM, Criscione J, Kotiya AA, Dongaonkar RM, Hardy J, Wilson E, Gashev AA, Laine GA, Stewart RH. Functional adaptation of bovine mesenteric lymphatic vessels to mesenteric venous hypertension. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 306: R901-7, 2014. (PMID: 24671245)
  • Dongaonkar RM, Quick CM, Laine GA, Uray K, Cox CS Jr, Stewart RH. Adaptation of the hepatic Transudation barrier to sinusoidal hypertension. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 318: R722-R729, 2020. (PMID: 32023079)

3) Research Education. My interest in research education, diversity, equity and inclusion, and program administration has grown over the years, and is becoming my primary focus. This has included education model development, identifying factors leading to vocational identity change, multilevel community formation, and program efficiencies.

  • Stiles TW, Quick CM. Peer Mentoring Develops Undergraduate Career Goals in a Community of Research Teams, The Journal of Experimental Education, 1–17, 2024. (https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2024.2338532)
  • Stiles TW, Adams TH, Yalvac B, Quick CM. Predicting Undergraduate Career Goal Change in Research-Intensive Communities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 60(7), 1431-1456, 2023. (https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21837)
  • Desai KV, Gatson SN, Stiles T, Laine GA, Stewart RH, Quick CM. Integrating research and education at research-intensive universities with research-intensive communities.  Adv Physiol Ed, 32: 136-141, 2008.
  • Quick CM,  McNeely AC,  Gatson SN. The Research-Intensive Community Model has the Necessary Properties for Successful Propagation at Research-Extensive Universities. The FASEB Journal. 2022, 36: (S1).
  • Quick CM, Cisneros MR. Vertically-Integrated Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) Structure a Biomedical Research Certificate Program that Promotes Inclusivity. The FASEB Journal. 2022, 36: (S1).

Courses support the Biomedical Research Certificate Program

  • VTPP 123 Foundations of Physiology
  • VTPP 234 Design of Models for Physiology Research
  • VTPP 235 Analysis and Validation of Models
  • VTPP 291 Research
  • VTPP 444 Practicum in Biomedical Research
  • VTPP 491 Research

The Aggie Research Program and its successor Aggie Collaborate has structured a growing number of Research Leadership Programs for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty to lead collaborative undergraduate research teams. Since 2016 these programs have trained over 10,000 participants from levels of undergraduate to faculty.

  1. Quick CM, Baldick HL, Safabakhsh N, Lenihan TJ, Li JK-J, Weizsäcker HW, Noordergraaf A. Unstable radii of muscular blood vessels. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 271: H2669-H2676, 1996. (PMID: 8997330)
  2. Berger DS, Vlasica K, Quick CM, Robinson KA, Shroff SG. Ejection has both positive and negative effects on left ventricular isovolumic relaxation. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 273: H2696- H2707, 1997. (PMID: 9435606)
  3. Benni PB, Quick CM, Chen B, Bada H, Leffler CW, Daley ML. NIRS: dose dependency of local changes of cerebral HbO2 and Hb with pCO2 in parietal cortex. Acta Neurochir Suppl (Wien) 71: 258- 259, 1998. (PMID: 9779200)
  4. Quick CM, Berger DS, Noordergraaf A. Apparent arterial compliance. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 274: H1393-H1403, 1998. (PMID: 9575945)
  5. Quick CM, Berger DS, Hettrick DA, Noordergraaf A. True arterial system compliance derived from apparent arterial compliance. Ann Biomed Eng 28: 291-301, 2000. (PMID: 10784093)
  6. Quick CM, Young WL, Leonard EF, Joshi S, Gao E, Hashimoto T. Model of structural and functional adaptation of small conductance vessels to arterial hypotension Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 279: H1645-H1653, 2000. (PMID: 11009451)
  7. Hashimoto T, Emala CW, Joshi S, Mesa-Tejada R, Quick CM, Feng L, Libow A, Marchuk DA, Young WL. Abnormal pattern of tie-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor expression in human cerebral arteriovenous malformations. Neurosurgery 47: 910-919, 2000. (PMID: 11014431)
  8. Quick CM, Young WL, Noordergraaf A. Infinite number of solutions to the hemodynamic inverse problem. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 280: H1472-H1479, 2001. (PMID: 11247756)
  9. Quick CM, Berger DS, Noordergraaf A. Constructive and destructive addition of forward and reflected arterial pulse waves. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 280: H1519-H1527, 2001. (PMID: 11247762)
  10. Hashimoto T, Mesa-Tejada R, Quick CM, Bollen AW, Joshi S, Pile-Spellman J, Lawton MT, Young WL. Evidence of increased endothelial cell turnover in brain arteriovenous malformations. Neurosurgery 49: 124-132, 2001. (PMID: 11440433)
  11. Quick CM, Hashimoto T, Young WL. Lack of flow regulation may explain the development of arteriovenous malformations. Neurol Res 23: 641-644, 2001. (PMID: 11547934)
  12. Quick CM, Leonard EL, Young WL. Adaptation of cerebral circulation to brain arteriovenous malformations increases feeding arterial pressure and decreases regional hypotension. Neurosurgery 50: 167-175, 2002. (PMID: 11844247)
  13. Quick CM, Berger DS, Noordergraaf A. Arterial pulse wave reflection as feedback. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 49: 440-445, 2002. (PMID: 12002175)
  14. Quick CM, James DJ, Ning K, Joshi S, Halim AX, Hashimoto T, Young WL. Relationship of nidal vessel radius and wall thickness to brain arteriovenous malformation hemorrhage. Neurol Res 24: 495-500, 2002. (PMID: 12117322)
  15. Hashimoto T, Young WL, Prohovnik I, Gupta DK, Ostapkovich ND, Ornstein E, Halim AX, Quick CM. Increased cerebral blood flow after brain arteriovenous malformation resection is substantially independent of cardiac output. J Neurosurg Anesthesiol 14: 204-208, 2002. (PMID: 12172292)
  16. Jou LD, Quick CM, Young WL, Lawton MT, Higashida R, Martin A, Saloner D. Computational approach to quantifying hemodynamic forces in giant cerebral aneurysms. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 24: 1804-1810, 2003. (PMID: 14561606)
  17. Stewart RH, Allen SJ, Quick CM, Rohn DA, Cox CS, Laine GA. Effect of venous air embolization on pulmonary microvascular protein permeability. Microcirculation 11: 411-416, 2004. (PMID: 15280066)
  18. Venugopal AM, Stewart RH, Rajagopalan S, Laine GA, Quick CM. Optimal lymphatic vessel structure. IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 5:3700-3, 2004. (PMID: 17271097)
  19. Quick CM, Mohiuddin MW, Laine GA, Noordergraaf A. The arterial system pressure-volume loop. Physiol Meas 26: N29-N35, 2005. (PMID: 16311438)
  20. Quick CM, Berger DS, Stewart RH, Laine GA, Hartley CJ, Noordergraaf A. Resolving the hemodynamic inverse problem. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 53: 361-368, 2006. (PMID: 16532762)
  21. Stewart RH, Quick CM, Zawieja DC, Cox CS, Allen SJ, Laine GA. Pulmonary air embolization inhibits lung lymph flow by increasing lymphatic outflow pressure. Lymphat Res Biol 4: 18-22, 2006. (PMID: 16569202)
  22. Nordt M., Meisner J., Dongaonkar RM, Quick CM, Gatson SN, Karadkar UP and Furuta, R. eBat: A Technology-enriched Life Sciences Research Community. Proc Am Soc Info Sci Tech, 43: 1-25, 2006. (DOI: 10.1002.14504301142)
  23. Widmer RJ, Laurinec JE, Young MF, Laine GA, Quick CM. Local heat produces a shear-mediated biphasic response in the thermoregulatory microcirculation of the Pallid bat wing. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 291: R625-R632, 2006. (PMID: 16675627)
  24. Karadkar U, Nordt M, Furuta R, Lee C, Quick CM. An exploration of space-time constraints on contextual information in image-based testing interfaces. LNCS 4172: 391-402, 2006. (DOI: 10.1007/11863878_33)
  25. Widmer RJ, Stewart RH, Young MF, Laurinec JE, Laine GA, Quick CM. Application of local heat induces capillary recruitment in the pallid bat wing. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 292: R2312- R2317, 2007. (PMID: 17332157)
  26. Mohiuddin MW, Laine GA, Quick CM. Increase in pulse wavelength causes the systemic arterial tree to degenerate into a classical Windkessel. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 293: H1164-H1171, 2007. (PMID: 17483241)
  27. Quick CM, Venugopal AM, Gashev AA, Zawieja DC, Stewart RH. Intrinsic pump-conduit behavior of lymphangions. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 292: R1510-18, 2007. (PMID: 17122333)
  28. Meisner JK, Stewart RH, Laine GA, Quick CM. Lymphatic vessels transition to state of summation above a critical contraction frequency. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 293: R200- R208, 2007. (PMID: 17363681)
  29. Venugopal AM, Stewart RH, Laine GA, Dongaonkar RM, Quick CM. Lymphangion coordination minimally affects flow in lymphatic vessels. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 293: H1183-H1189, 2007. (PMID: 17468331)
  30. Widmer RJ, Laurinec JE, Young MF, Mohiuddin MW, Laine GA, Quick CM. The origin of the biphasic response to local heat in skin. Microcirculation, 14: 349-357, 2008. (PMID: 18464163)
  31. Dongaonkar RM, Quick CM (corresponding author), Stewart RH, Drake RE, Cox CS, Laine GA. Edemagenic gain and interstitial fluid volume regulation. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 294: R651-R659, 2008. (PMID: 18056984)
  32. Quick CM, Venugopal AM, Laine GA, Stewart RH. First-order approximation for the lymphangion pressure-flow relationship. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 294: H2144-H2149, 2008. (PMID: 18326809)
  33. Desai KV, Laine GA, Stewart RH, Cox CS Jr., Quick CM, Allen SJ, Fisher UM. Mechanics of the left ventricular myocardial interstitium: effects of acute and chronic myocardial edema. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 294: H2428-H2434, 2008. (PMID: 18375722)
  34. Desai KV, Gatson SN, Stiles T, Laine GA, Stewart RH, Quick CM. Integrating research and education at research-intensive universities with research-intensive communities. Adv Physiol Ed, 32: 136-141, 2008. (PMID: 18539852)
  35. Venugopal AM, Quick CM (corresponding author), Laine GA, Stewart RH. Optimal lymphatic network structure maximizing lymph flow. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 296: H303-H309, 2009. (PMID: 19028799)
  36. Quick CM, Ngo B, Venugopal AM, Stewart RH. Lymphatic pump-conduit duality: contraction of post-nodal lymphatic vessels inhibits passive flow. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 296: H662- 668, 2009. (PMID: 19122167)
  37. Dongaonkar RM, Stewart RH, Laine GA, Davis MJ, Zawieja DC, Quick CM. Venomotion modulates lymphatic pumping in the bat wing. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 296: H2015-H2021, 2009. (PMID: 19329767)
  38. Dongaonkar RM, Laine GA, Stewart RH, Quick CM. Balance point characterization of interstitial fluid volume regulation. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 297: R6-R16, 2009. (PMID: 19420292)
  39. Venugopal AM, Stewart RH, Laine GA, Quick CM. Nonlinear lymphangion pressure-volume relationship minimizes edema. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 299: H876-H882, 2010. (PMID: 20601461)
  40. Dongaonkar RM, Laine GA, Stewart RH, Quick CM. Evaluation of gravimetric techniques to estimate the microvascular filtration coefficient. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 300: R1426-R1436, 2011. (PMID: 21346245)
  41. Dongaonkar RM, Quick CM (corresponding author), Vo JC, Meisner JK, Laine GA, Davis MJ, Stewart RH. Blood flow augmentation by intrinsic venular contraction in vivo. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 302: R1436- R142, 2012. (PMID: 22513742)
  42. Mohiuddin MW, Rihani RJ, Laine GA, Quick CM. Increasing pulse wave velocity in a realistic cardiovascular model does not increase pulse pressure with age. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 303: H116-H125, 2012. (PMID: 22561301)
  43. Dongaonkar RM, Stewart RH, Quick CM, Uray KL, Cox CS Jr, Laine GA. Award article: Microcirculatory Society Award for Excellence in Lymphatic Research: time course of myocardial interstitial edema resolution and associated left ventricular dysfunction. Microcirculation. 19: 714- 22, 2012. (PMID: 22708850)
  44. Dongaonkar RM, Nguyen TL, Quick CM (corresponding author), Hardy J, Laine GA, Wilson E, Stewart RH. Adaptation of mesenteric lymphatic vessels to prolonged changes in transmural pressure. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 305: H203-10, 2013. (PMID: 23666672)
  45. Quick CM, Criscione J, Kotiya AA, Dongaonkar RM, Hardy J, Wilson E, Gashev AA, Laine GA, Stewart RH. Functional adaptation of bovine mesenteric lymphatic vessels to mesenteric venous hypertension. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 306: R901-7, 2014. (PMID: 24671245)
  46. Dongaonkar RM, Nguyen TL, Quick CM (corresponding author), Heaps CL, Hardy J, Laine GA, Wilson E, Stewart RH. Mesenteric lymphatic vessels adapt to mesenteric venous hypertension by becoming weaker pumps. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, 306: R901-R907, 2014. (PMID: 25519727)
  47. Nguyen PH, Coquis-Knezek SF, Mohiuddin MW, Quick CM. The complex distribution of the systemic arterial system mechanical properties, pulsatile hemodynamics, and vascular stresses can emerge from three simple adaptive rules. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 308:H407-H415, 2015. (PMID: 25502109)
  48. Nguyen PH, Tuzun E, Quick CM. Aortic pulse pressure homeostasis emerges from adaption of systemic arteries to local mechanical stresses. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol.311:R522- R531, 2016. (PMID: 27306830)
  49. Dongaonkar RM, Stewart RH, Quick CM, Uray KL, Cox CS Jr, Laine GA. Hepatic transudation barrier properties, Microcirculation. 25, 2018. (PMID: 29047195)
  50. Dongaonkar RM, Quick CM, Laine GA, Uray K, Cox CS Jr, Stewart RH. Adaptation of the Hepatic Transudation Barrier to Sinusoidal Hypertension. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 318: R722-R729, 2020. (PMID: 32023079)
  51. Stiles TW, Morfin Rodriguez AE, Mohiuddin HS, Lee H, Dalal FA, Fuertes WW, Adams TH, Stewart RH, Quick CM. Algebraic formulas characterizing an alternative to Guyton’s graphical analysis relevant to heart failure. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 320: R851-R870, 2021. (PMID: 33596744)
  52. Stiles TW, Adams TH, Yalvac B, Quick CM. Predicting Undergraduate Career Goal Change in Research-Intensive Communities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 60(7), 1431-1456, 2023. (https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21837)
  53. Stiles TW, Quick CM. Peer Mentoring Develops Undergraduate Career Goals in a Community of Research Teams, The Journal of Experimental Education, 1–17, 2024. (https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2024.2338532)
  54.  Rivera ME, Wickersham TA, Quick CM, Dunlap KA, Tedeschi LO. PSVII-30 Assessing writing and visual models as a pedagogical strategy for creating individual learning paths in animal nutrition Journal of Animal Science 102 (Suppl. 3): 819-820.

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