School of Medicine
Rama Rao Amara
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Rama Amara received his Ph.D. in molecular biology and immunology from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, and did his post-doctoral training at Emory. He was invited to join the faculty in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology as Assistant Professor in 2003. His research focuses on the development of vaccines for HIV/AIDS with an emphasis on therapeutic vaccines targeting HIV/AIDS, generation and maintenance of CD8 T cells and the associated CD4 T Cells. His research has been published in numerously scholarly journals, including Journal of Virology (2008, 2009), Vaccine (2007, 2008, 2009) and Nature (2009). In addition to his appointment in the School of Medicine, he holds an appointment with the Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
Jack L. Arbiser
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Dermatology
Jack Arbiser earned an M.S. (1983) from Emory University and an M.D. and Ph.D. (1991) from Harvard University, where he also completed a residency in dermatology (1995) and a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellowship (1997). He joined the Emory faculty in 1998 as an Associate Professor of Dermatology affiliated with the Winship Cancer Institute. His research focuses on the regulation of angiogenesis and tumorigenesis by signal transduction pathways and the factors that cause transformation in melanoma, especially the transition from noninvasive to invasive melanoma. In 2007 he received the Albert E. Levy Award for the Senior Investigator. He is Director of Research at the Winship Cancer Institute.
Gary J. Bassell
Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology
Gary Bassell earned a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (1992) and completed postdoctoral work at the Center for Neurological Diseases of the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bassell was recruited as an Assistant Professor of Anatomy by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1995 and was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor of Neuroscience in 1998. In 2005, he was recruited by Emory School of Medicine Neurology and Human Genetics Departments as an Associate Professor with tenure. His areas of research include the mechanisms of mRNA trafficking and local protein synthesis in neurons, their function in axon guidance and synaptic plasticity, and dysfunction in fragile X syndrome and spinal muscular atrophy. He is a recipient of the Basal O'Connor Scholar Award from the March of Dimes Foundation, an Investigator Award from the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the Irma Hirschl Career Scientist Award, and the Dana Foundation Award in Brain Imaging.
Ping Chen
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Cell Biology
Ping Chen earned an M.S. from Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science (1988) and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1996). She was recruited to Emory as Assistant Professor of Cell Biology in 2003. She researches molecular regulation of the development and regeneration of the mammalian auditory system. Currently Dr. Chen is studying the morphogenesis of the mammalian auditory sensory organ, the organ of Corti, using a combined approach of molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, and genetics. Her study of the pathways involved in critical developmental stages of the organ of Corti may provide important clues for hair cell protection and regeneration. Her research has appeared in Brain Research (2009), Developmental Biology (2007), and the Journal of Biological Chemistry (2003).
Anita H. Corbett
Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry
Anita Corbett earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1992) from Vanderbilt University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Institute (1997). She joined the Emory faculty in 1997 in the Department of Biochemistry as an assistant professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003. Her research seeks to understand the regulation of nuclear protein import and mRNA processing/export as key steps in mediating and regulating gene expression and as they relate to human diseases, including cancer and muscular dystrophy. Her work has been published in Genetics (2009), Gene (2009) and Journal of Biological Chemistry (2007, 2008), among other journals. From 1996-2000, Dr. Corbett received the Biomedical Career Award from Burroughs Wellcome.
Cynthia A. Derdeyn
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Cynthia Derdeyn earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from Georgia State University (1994) and served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She joined the Emory School of Medicine faculty in 2004 as Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Her current research focuses on HIV-1 subtypes and heterosexual transmission of HIV-1 to provide information about how a vaccine might induce a protective neutralizing antibody response, to better understand the consequences of neutralizing antibodies, and to provide information useful for the design of vaccine immunogens. In 2008 she became a permanent member of the NIH/NIAID Study Section, AIDS Immunology and Pathogenesis. She holds additional appointments as Affiliate Scientist at Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Scientist at the Emory Vaccine Center.
Michael P. Epstein
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Human Genetics
Michael Epstein earned an M.S. in Biostatistics (1998) and a Ph.D. in Biostatistics (2002) from the University of Michigan. He was recruited by Emory's Department of Human Genetics as an Assistant Professor in 2003 and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatics and Bioinformatics in the Rollins School of Public Health. His research involves the development and application of statistical methods for identifying genetic variants within the human genome that increase the risk for complex diseases. His methodological interests focus on the construction of statistical tests for gene mapping that utilize data from large and detailed catalogues of single-nucleotide polymorphisms available in genome-wide association studies. The applied focus of Dr. Epstein's research involves mapping genetic variants that increase risk for post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, depression, and autism.
Mary R. Galinski
Ph.D., Professor of Medicine
Mary Galinski earned her Ph.D. from the Sackler Institute of Biomedical Sciences at New York University School of Medicine, with an emphasis in Molecular Parasitology. Before joining the Emory faculty in 1998 as an assistant professor, she was a faculty member at NYU School of Medicine. In 2002, she was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Her research focuses on malaria. In 1992 she founded the Malaria Foundation International to facilitate the development and implementation of solutions to the health, economic, and social problems caused by malaria. In 1999 she established the Emory Vaccine Center's Malaria Research Program. She has published recently in Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology and Trends in Parasitology. Dr. Galinski currently holds an additional appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Ellen J. Hess
Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology
Ellen Hess received her Ph.D. from University of California, San Diego (1987). She held a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute (1986-1992) and held faculty positions at the Pennsylvania State University and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She was promoted to tenured professor at Johns Hopkins just prior to her recruitment to Emory in 2008. Her research focuses on the molecular genetic basis of inherited neurologic disorders, particularly movement and hyperactivity disorders; her recent findings have been published in Brain (2007, 2009), Neuroscience (2007), and Journal of Neuroscience (2005, 2006). Dr. Hess serves as the chairperson of the Neurological Science and Disorders C (NSD-C) study section for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Debra E. Houry
M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Debra Houry earned an M.D. and M.P.H. from Tulane University School of Medicine (1998) and completed her residency training at Denver Health Medical Center and the University of Colorado in 2002; she served as chief resident in her fourth year. Dr. Houry was recruited to Emory's Department of Emergency Medicine as Assistant Professor in 2002. Her research focuses on the prevention of violence against women, on mental health issues related to violence, and on emergency care. She is a recipient of the Jay Drotman Award from the American Public Health Association for the most outstanding young public health professional in the country (2002) and the first Linda Saltzman Memorial Intimate Partner Violence Researcher Award from the Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma (2007). She holds an additional appointment in the Rollins School of Public Health.
Ahsan Husain
Ph.D., Professor of Medicine
Ahsan Husain received his Ph.D. from Queen's Medical School, University of Nottingham (1979). Prior to his appointment at Emory, he served as the Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at University of Alabama at Birmingham and co-directed its Center for Heart Failure Research and the school's Specialized Center of Clinically Oriented Research. He came to Emory in 2008. At Emory, his specializations include heart failure and myocardial biology; he will also participate in the Biomedical Engineering Program between Emory and the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research has been featured numerous times in the journal Science, as well as more recently in Lancet (2007), Pathology (2008), and Pediatric Cardiology (2009).
Hyder A. Jinnah
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurology
Hyder A. Jinnah received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego (1993). He comes to Emory from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Neurology in 1999 and subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 2005. Dr. Jinnah's research focus is movement disorders in young people, and he maintains active research programs related to dystonia and Lesch-Nyhan disease. In addition to being an active member the American Neurological Association and the American Academy of Neurology, Dr. Jinnah has lent his scientific expertise to the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson's Disease Foundation.
Daniel Kalman
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Daniel Kalman earned a Ph.D. in Neurosciences from the University of California, Los Angeles (1988) and joined the Emory faculty in 2001 as an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He was a recipient of the National Cancer Institute Research Fellowship from 1993-2000. His research explores how bacterial and viral pathogens interface with their host. Specifically, he examines 1) the immunological detection and clearance of the infection, and 2) host systems utilized by the pathogen to facilitate infection. A long-term goal of his laboratory is to develop approaches that will permit identification of agents useful in treating disease. His work has been published recently in Gastroenterology (2009), Future Microbiology (2008), and Journal of Immunology (2007).
Stuart J. Knechtle
M.D., Professor of Surgery
Stuart Knechtle received his M.D. from Cornell University (1982) and comes to Emory from the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he served as Assistant Professor of Surgery, earning tenure in 1994 and being promoted to Professor of Surgery in 2000. He joined the Emory faculty in 2008. He is best known for developing strategies in transplant immunosuppression that promote tolerance of an organ transplant. His research seeks to find safer and more effective ways to prevent rejection. His work has earned recognition from the International Society of Heart Transplantation (1986) and the American Society of Transplantation, including an Upjohn Award for Outstanding Paper(1986) and the Senior Achievement Award in Clinical Transplantation (2008). His work is published regularly in such journals as Transplantation (2006,2007), American Journal of Transplantation (2009, 2008, 2007) and Immunology (2007).
Omar Kucuk
M.D., FACN, Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology
Omar Kucuk earned his medical degree from Hacettepe University Medical School in Ankara, Turkey (1975). He held a residency and fellowship at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, and a hematology and oncology fellowship at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Before joining the Emory faculty in 2008 as Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology, he held professorships at the University of Hawaii and Wayne State University. Dr. Kucuk's research focus is nutrition and cancer therapy. He conducted the first clinical trials to show the benefits of soy and lycopene supplements in prostate cancer. His current investigations focus on the effects of micronutrients and phytochemicals on biomarkers of cell growth, differentiation, inflammation, and oxidative stress in a variety of cancers. He has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications.
David J. Lefer
Ph.D., Professor of Surgery
David Lefer received his Ph.D. from Wake Forest University in 1991. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has held faculty positions at Tulane University School of Medicine, the LSU Health Sciences Center, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He was recruited by Emory School of Medicine in 2008 as Professor of Surgery. Dr. Lefer has authored or co-authored more than 135 papers, primarily in the area of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. His recent research has been featured in Cardiovascular Research (2009), Circulation (2008), and Diabetes (2008). His research group was among the first to demonstrate the cardioprotective effects of nitric oxide in the setting of acute myocardial infarction.
Gregory S. Martin
M.D., M.Sc., Associate Professor of Medicine
Gregory Martin earned an M.D. from Vanderbilt University (1994) and a M.Sc. from Emory University (2004). He was recruited to the Emory School of medicine in 2000 as Assistant Professor of Medicine. His research includes clinical and translational research in critically ill patients, including those with sepsis, organ dysfunction syndromes, and acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome. He teaches in the Pulmonary & Critical Care fellowship program, chairs the Division ICU Standardization Committee, directs the Clinical Interaction Network Site at Emory University Hospital Midtown, serves as Associate Division Director for Critical Care in Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care in the School of Medicine, and is Section head for Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Director of the Medical and Coronary Intensive Care Units at Grady Memorial Hospital.
John N. Oshinski
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Radiology
John Oshinski earned a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1993) and completed his postdoctoral training at Emory School of Medicine Department of Radiology. After completing his postdoctoral work, he served as Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology at the University of Virginia (1998) and at Emory School of Medicine (1997, 2000). His research involves the development of clinical and basic science applications of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He also uses MRI and computational fluid mechanics to examine the role of hemodynamics on the localization, development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Oshinski has served as co-chair of the NIH Workshop on High Field Cardiac MRI in 2007, and he is currently serving as Director of MR Research.
Joel H. Saltz
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Joel Saltz received his M.D.-Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science at Duke University (1986) and completed a residency in Clinical Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University. A board certified clinical pathologist, he serves as Emory's Director of the Center for Comprehensive Informatics, Chief Medical Information Officer of Emory Healthcare, and as a Professor in the Department of Pathology. Dr. Saltz is a pioneer in the fields of high-performance computing and biomedical informatics, with more than 325 publications and 70 invited presentations to his credit. Previously he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University (OSU) and Davis Endowed Chair of Cancer at OSU.
Alfred (Fred) P. Sanfilippo
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Fred Sanfilippo received his M.D. (1976) and Ph.D. in immunology (1975) as a Medical Scientist Training Program Fellow at Duke University. He is Executive Vice President for Health Affairs at Emory, CEO of Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and Chair of Emory Healthcare. Prior to joining the Emory faculty, he was Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Dean of the College of Medicine, and Medical Center CEO at The Ohio State University and later its Executive Dean for Health Sciences. He also served as Baxley Professor and Chair of Pathology at Johns Hopkins.
David S. Sheps
M.D, M.S.P.H., Professor of Medicine
David Sheps earned his M.D. (1969) and M.S.P.H. (1988) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He began his academic career at the University of Miami, earning tenure in 1978. In 1979 he returned to the University of North Carolina, where he was promoted to Professor in 1988. He later served as Professor and Chair of Cardiology at East Tennessee State University and as Professor of Medicine and Associate Chair of Cardiology at the University of Florida. He was recruited to Emory as a clinician-scientist with the VA Medical Center in 2008. He specializes in the clinical and epidemiologic consequences of acute and chronic stress in patients with cardiovascular disease, focusing on the role played by mood disorders, psychological stress, and other biobehavioral factors in patient outcomes. He is Editor-in-Chief of Psychosomatic Medicine and received the Excellence in Teaching Award for 2008 for teaching fellows at the University of Florida College of Medicine.
Shanthi V. Sitaraman
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine
Shanti Sitaraman earned a Ph.D. (1989) and M.D. (1992) from the University of Toronto and was selected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in 1995. She joined the Emory faculty in 1997 as an Associate Professor. Her research focuses on the understanding of the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), particularly the mechanisms of diarrhea in IBD. Recently, her work has been published in Gastroenterology (2007, 2008, 2009) and American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology (2007, 2008). She has served on the Steering Committee of the Gastroenterology Research Group of the American Gastroenterological Association.
William C. Small
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Radiology
William Small holds four degrees from Emory, including an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. His current interests include a variety of topics in CT, including contrast usage, dosimetry reduction, reconstruction and interpretation methods, CT-perfusion and dual-energy applications and methods of tumor destruction including radiofrequency ablation and cryotherapy. He is widely published, with his most recent research appearing in European Journal of Radiology, Academic Radiology, AJR, and Radiographics. Dr. Small is an active educator with the Emory system and is currently Director of Abdominal Imaging and Chief of Service at Emory Hospital Midtown. to Associate Professor in 2000. Dr. Wood recruited Dr. Miller to Emory in 2002 as Associate
David A. Steinhauer
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
David Steinhauer earned a Ph.D. from the University of California (1988). He came to Emory in 2002 as Assistant Professor from the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London. His research focuses on structure/function studies of the viral hemagglutinin glycoprotein (HA) to understand how receptor binding and membrane fusion are mediated at the molecular level. The primary goal of his research is to relate the mechanistic properties of these fundamental functions to the basic biology of influenza viruses with respect to replication characteristics, host range, adaptation, and potential to affect human disease. Dr. Steinhauer's research has been published in numerous journals, most recently Virology (2008, 2006) and Journal of Immunology (2007).
Paula M. Vertino
Ph.D., Professor of Radiation Oncology
Paula Vertino earned a Ph.D. (1990) from the State University of New York, Buffalo, and an MD (1996) from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in oncology. She joined the Emory School of Medicine faculty in 1996 as Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003. Her research foci include DNA methylation and epigenetic mechanisms of human carcinogenesis. In 2003, she was named an American Cancer Society Research Scholar, and in 2006 she joined the Woodruff Leadership Academy. Dr. Vertino holds an additional appointment in the Winship Cancer Institute. She has served as the co-Director of the Cancer Genetics and Genome Instability Program at the Winship Cancer Institute since 2005.
Ya Wang
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Radiation Oncology
Ya Wang received her M.D. and M.Sc. degrees in China and a Ph.D. from the Academy of Medical Science in Beijing (1994). She came to Emory from Thomas Jefferson University, where she was a professor of radiation oncology. She has been a Professor of Radiation Oncology at Emory since 2008; she also serves as the Director of the Division of Experimental Radiation Oncology. Dr. Wang's clinical and research interests lie in mammalian cells' response to DNA double strand break, including checkpoint activation and DNA repair, as well as the relationship between DNA damage response and metastasis. Her research has been published in Cell Cycle (2005, 2007, 2008) and the Journal of Cell Physiology (2005).
Paul R. Wolpe
Ph.D., Professor of Medicine
Paul Root Wolpe received his Ph.D. in medical sociology from Yale University (1989). He comes to Emory in 2008 from the University of Pennsylvania, where he held cross-disciplinary faculty appointments in psychiatry, medical ethics, and sociology. A founder of the field of neuroethics, Dr. Wolpe is the immediate past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities and serves as co-editor of the American Journal of Bioethics. He also serves as the first Chief of Bioethics for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and is the first National Bioethics Advisor for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Ling Wei
M.D., Professor of Anesthesiology
Ling Wei earned her M.D. in 1982 from the Beijing Capital Institute of Medicine. Prior to her recruitment to Emory as Professor of Pathology in 2008, she served as Associate Professor at the Medical College of South Carolina. Her research focuses on cell injury in cerebral ischemia and the treatment of ischemic stroke. She and her research team are particularly interested in neural and vascular plasticity that may promote long-term functional recovery after stroke. Their recent research on embryonic stem cell transplantation is aimed at repairing damaged structures and promoting functional recovery in the ischemic brain after stroke, as well as in injured peripheral nerves, using wild-type and genetically modified embryonic stem cells. Dr. Wei has published extensively, most recently in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry (2009).
David W. Wright
M.D., FA.C.E.P., Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
David Wright earned an M.D. from the University of Alabama (1993), completed his residency at the University of Cincinnati (1997), and joined the Emory faculty in the same year as an Assistant Professor. He specializes in neuroinjury, sports concussions, cognitive impairment, neuroprotection and neuroplasticity, and medical technology development, exploring if neurosteroids are effective in mediating neuroprotection and neurorepair after traumatic brain injury. In 2001 Dr. Wright received the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine's Young Investigator Award. He has appointments at Grady Memorial Hospital, Emory University Hospital, and Emory University Hospital Midtown.
Manuel S. Yepes
M.D., Associate Professor of Neurology
Manuel Yepes earned an M.D. from Javeriana University (1989) and received additional training from Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota, University of Cincinnati, and Georgetown University Medical Center. Prior to joining the Emory faculty in 2005 as Assistant Professor of Nuerology, he served as a guest researcher at NIH/NINDS, Molecular Mechanisms of Ischemic Stroke, and as director of the Stroke Unit and the Neurovascular Diagnostic Center at Georgetown. His research examines the neurotoxic effect of tissue-type plasminogen activator in the ischemic brain; TWEAK-mediated neuroinflammation during ischemic stroke; and LRP as a regulator of blood brain barrier permeability. In 2003 he received the Roland H. Lange Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences from the American Red Cross.
Shan Ping Yu
M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Anesthesiology
Shan Ping Yu earned his M.D. and M.S. in Pharmacology in 1982 from the Capital Institute of Medicine and Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Beijing, China. In 1990 he earned his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Prior to coming to Emory in 2008 as Professor, he served as Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Medical College of South Carolina as well as an Associate Professor at Washington University. Dr. Yu's research initially focused on modulations of ion channels and membrane transporters in normal and pathological conditions; in recent years, it has extended to include the ionic and molecular mechanisms of cell death that occur in ischemic stroke and stem cell transplantation therapy. Dr. Yu comes to Emory from the Medical University of South Carolina and Washington University School of Medicine.
James C. Zimring
M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
James Zimring received his M.D/Ph.D. training (1999/1998) from Emory University. He joined the Emory faculty in 2002 as Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. His research seeks to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in establishing and maintaining immunological tolerance, with a focus on transfusion and bone marrow transplantation. His work has application and relevance for organ transplantation, transfusion, tumor immunotherapy, infectious disease, and gene therapy. Dr. Zimring's most recent articles have appeared in Blood (2007, 2009), Transfusion (2007, 2008, 2009) and American Journal of Clinical Pathology (2006).
