M.D./Ph.D. Program Mentors
View the specialties of available mentors for the M.D./Ph.D. program at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. As a program candidate, you'll have the opportunity to talk with at least three potential mentors of your choice during your interview process.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Madison Adolf, Ph.D., assistant professor
Mechanisms of DNA binding proteins in maintaining genome stability; DNA repair in replication - Edwin Antony, Ph.D., professor
Mechanisms of genome integrity maintenance and mRNA fate in oncogenesis - Yuna M. Ayala, Ph.D., associate professor and vice chair
RNA binding protein function and link to neurodegeneration, including movement disorders and dementia - Ángel Baldán, Ph.D., professor
Control of sterol and lipoprotein homeostasis by non-coding RNAs; control of hepatic and intestinal triglyceride metabolism - Gucan "Gabriel" Dai, Ph.D., associate professor
Biophysical and structural mechanisms of ion channels, principles of bioelectricity and the biochemistry of excitable membranes - Reza Dastvan, Ph.D., associate professor
Mechanistic principles of membrane transport and kinase release in neoplastic and neurodegenerative diseases - Enrico Di Cera, M.D., professor and chair
Structure, function and engineering of coagulation factors - Robert E. Fleming, M.D., professor
Processes regulating cellular iron transport - David A. Ford, Ph.D., professor
Biomolecule discovery of mediators and prognostic indicators of sepsis, inflammation and cardiovascular disease - Susana Gonzalo-Hervas, Ph.D., professor
Mechanisms contributing to genomic instability in cancer and aging: nuclear architecture, chromatin structure and DNA repair - Sergey Korolev, Ph.D., professor
Mechanism of tumor suppressors in cancer inhibition of DNA repair pathways for cancer treatment and membrane receptors in pain management - Kyle McCommis, Ph.D., associate professor
Importance of mitochondrial function in the pathogenesis and treatment of heart failure, diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - Bassem Mohammed, Ph.D., assistant professor
Hemostasis and thrombosis -- biology and pathophysiology - Adriana Montaño, Ph.D., professor; pediatrics, biochemistry and molecular biology
Newborn screening of mucopolysaccharidoses; Morquio A disease treatments for lysosomal storage disorders; cardiovascular effects of glycosaminoglycan accumulation; oral tolerance molecular mechanisms of the disease - Nicola Pozzi, Ph.D., associate professor
Mechanisms of thrombosis and immunothrombosis, thrombophilias, autoimmunity, Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) - Tinghai Xu, Ph.D., assistant professor
DNA methylation, histone modification and chromatin remodeling: DNA methyltransferase and nucleosome complexes, remodeler-mediated DNA methylation on chromatin, and chromatinassociated protein complexes
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
- Elise Alspach, Ph.D., associate professor
Sex disparities, cancer immunoediting, tumor-specific T cell responses and immunotherapies - Melissa Berrien-Elliott, Ph.D., assistant professor
NK cell biology, NK cell therapy for treating cancer and viral infections, translational immunology - Richard J. DiPaolo, Ph.D., professor
Study of how immune cells regulate autoimmune disease and cancer, with a focus on regulatory T cells and inflammatory responses; development of new immunotherapies for autoimmune disorders and gastric cancer; advanced genomic and cellular approaches to understand disease mechanisms and improve treatments - Stephen Ferris, Ph.D., assistant professor
Understanding the fundamental processes that drive immune responses in the context of selfantigens; researching how an immune response is generated against cancer self "neoantigens" and why these immune responses fail to reject tumors in many patients; investigating aberrant immune responses generated during autoimmune conditions such as Type 1 diabetes - Daniel Hawiger, M.D., Ph.D., professor
Regulation of T cell differentiation and functions by dendritic cells to prevent autoimmune diseases and cancer - Daniel F. Hoft, M.D., Ph.D., professor; internal medicine, molecular microbiology and immunology
Molecular immunologic studies of mucosally invasive intracellular pathogens - Jianguo Liu, M.D., Ph.D., professor; internal medicine, molecular microbiology and immunology
Molecular mechanisms of cytokine gene expression and their immunological activities in autoimmune, tumor and infectious diseases - John Tavis, Ph.D., professor
Molecular biology of hepatitis viruses; hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication and persistence in infected cells; HBV polymerase and RNase H activity, essential for viral replication; development and evaluation of new antiviral drugs that target these viral enzymes to improve HBV treatment - Ryan M. Teague, Ph.D., professor
T cell biology, tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy - Nathan Ungerleider, Ph.D., assistant professor
Study of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a tumor-associated pathogen that establishes a lifelong infection, promotes the long-term survival and proliferation of host cells and is a causal factor in a number of lymphomas and epithelial cancers; Study of EBV replication, infection-driven tumorigenesis and targetable vulnerabilities in EBV-associated cancers - Long Ping Victor Tse, Ph.D., assistant professor
Viral pathogenesis and transmission at the molecular level to develop new guidelines, vaccines and antivirals for public health measures; engineering of pathogenic viruses into harmless nanoparticles for medical use in gene therapy and vaccine development
Pharmacology and Physiology
- Andrew A. Butler, Ph.D., professor
Regulation of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in relation to the diseases of obesity and aging - Rafael Cazuza, Ph.D., assistant professor
Neuroimmunologic mechanisms of chronic painrelated comorbidities such as affective disorders, sleep disturbances, premature aging and others; immune cell manipulations and in vivo neuron activity registering - Vincenza Cifarelli, Ph.D., assistant professor
Mechanisms of vascular and lymphatic remodeling in inflammation and obesity; confocal microscopy, rodents, molecular targets, clinical research (human obesity/lipedema) - Susan Farr, Ph.D., professor; internal medicine, geriatrics, pharmacology and physiology
Age-related dementia; investigating mechanisms, potential treatments and risk factors such as TBI and diabetes - Liberty Francois-Moutal, Ph.D., assistant professor
Regulation of synaptic transcriptome in chronic pain, from transport to translation; discovery of new therapeutic target and drug discovery campaigns - Heather Macarthur, Ph.D., professor
Vascular control and dysfunction in hypertension and other disease states; role of oxidative stress in disease states; neurodegeneration - Aubin Moutal, Ph.D., assistant professor
Mechanisms of autoimmune neuropathy and chronic pain, ion channel trafficking, molecular targeting, CRISPR - Juliana Navia Pelaez, Ph.D., assistant professor
Immuno-metabolic alterations and transcriptional regulation underlying chronic pain development; discovery of new mechanisms and therapeutic targets for safe treatments of chronic pain - Andrew Nguyen, Ph.D., assistant professor; internal medicine, pharmacology and physiology
Frontotemporal dementia; lysosome biology; lipid metabolism; nucleic acid-based therapeutics - Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., professor; pharmacology and physiology, internal medicine
Molecular mechanisms of chronic neuropathic pain and opioid-unwanted actions; drug discovery and development of novel non-narcotic analgesics - John K. Walker, Ph.D., professor
Application of synthetic and medicinal chemistry to drug discovery and the development of new small molecule drug therapies - Beika Zhu, Ph.D., assistant professor
Microglial biology in Alzheimer's disease and white matter degeneration, with a focus on GPCR signaling, glial-glial interactions and lipid metabolism