Interviews

Suzanne Barbour

Gregory Buck

Kenneth Kendler

Ronald Merrell

John J. Ryan

Faculty associated with VCU Life Sciences
Faculty members from various departments across the university are participating in the VCU Life Sciences initiative.

Center for the Study of Biological Complexity
Gregory Buck, professor
genomics; eukaryote gene expression

Jeffrey Elhai, assistant professor
gene regulation; bioinformatics

Tarynn Witten, professor
computational biology; biocomplexity

Center for Environmental Studies
Peter deFur, assistant professor
environmental toxicology

Gregory Garman, director and associate professor
fish ecology

Shelly Harris, assistant professor
environmental epidemiology

Institute for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery
Donald Abraham, professor and director
structural biology and drug discovery and cancer, sickle cell anemia, cardiovascular and alzheimer’s diseases

Phillips Institute for Oral and Craniofacial Molecular Biology
Todd O. Kitten, assistant professor
oral and craniofacial molecular biology, and microbiology and immunology

Janina P. Lewis, assistant professor
oral and craniofacial molecular biology

Francis L. Macrina, director and Edward Myers Professor
microbiology and immunology; oral and craniofacial molecular biology

Rita Shiang, assistant professor
human genetics

Ping Xu, associate professor
oral and craniofacial molecular biology; microbiology and immunology

Andrew Yeudall, associate professor
oral and craniofacial molecular biology

College of Humanities and Sciences
Department of Biology
John Anderson, assistant professor
landscape ecology; remote sensing

Charles Blem, professor
animal physiological ecology

Bonnie Brown, associate professor
ecological genetics

Wan-Ling Chiu, research assistant professor
plant genetics

Carolyn Conway, assistant professor
developmental biology

Tracey Dawson, assistant professor
molecular forensic science

Rodney Dyer, assistant professor
population genetics; biostatistics

William Eggleston, associate professor
molecular genetics

Jeffrey Elhai, assistant professor
gene regulation; bioinformatics

Robert Fisher, associate professor
plant developmental biology

Michael Fine, professor
behavior and neurobiology of fishes

Karen Kester, assistant professor
evolutionary ecology; entomology

Stephen McIninch, research assistant professor
fish ecology and taxonomy

John Pagels, professor
ecology of small mammals

Gregory Plunkett, associate professor
molecular plant systematics/evolution

John Ryan, assistant professor
molecular immunology; cancer biology

Leonard Smock, professor
stream and wetland ecology

Stanley Webb, associate professor
environmental microbiology

Jennifer Stewart, associate professor
endocrinology and neurochemistry

Robert Tombes, assistant professor
molecular cell biology

Clint Turbeville, assistant professor
invertebrate systematics & evolution

Fang-Sheng Wu, associate professor
molecular plant genetics

Donald Young, professor
plant physiological ecology

Department of Chemistry
M. Samy El-Shall, professor
molecular clusters

Fred Hawkridge, professor
lipid bilayer membranes

Sarah Rutan, professor
bioanalytical applications

James Terner, professor
raman spectroscopy

Qibing Zhou, assistant professor
bioorganic chemistryDepartment of

Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
David Chan, assistant professor
dynamical systems, biomathematics, population modeling

Andrew Lewis, associate professor and chair
research interest is in large cardinals and determinacy

Robert Reams, assistant professor
matrix theory

Jonathon Rowell, assistant professor
theoretical ecology, population dynamics

Hassan Sedaghat, associate professor
discrete dynamics and difference equations

Department of Psychology
Donelson Forsyth, professor
social psychology

Aleta Meyer, associate professor
community psychology

Sandra Gramling, associate professor
behavioral medicine, psychophysiology

Joseph Porter, professor
behavioral pharmacology

Scott Vrana, associate professor
psychophysiology and psychopathology

Everett Worthington, professor and chair
theories and methods of counseling

School of Allied Health Professions
Department of Health Administration
Stephen S. Mick, professor and chair
health services systems; medical sociology

School of Education
Jacqueline McDonnough, assistant professor
science education; systems-based instruction

Evelyn Reed-Victor, assistant professor
early intervention, assessing child and environment protective factors

School of Engineering
Biomedical Engineering Department
Gary Bowlin, assistant professor
tissue engineering

Ding-Yu Fei, associate professor
biomedical imaging

Peng-Wie Hsia, associate professor
cardiac electrophysiology

Martin Lenhardt, professor
bioacoustics

Peter Lum, assistant professor
rehabilitation robotics

Gerald Miller, professor
artificial organs

Sohi Rastegar, professor
biomedical optics and photonics

Paul Wetzel, associate professor
man-machine interfacing

Jennifer Wayne, associate professor
orthopedic biomechanics

Chemical Engineering Department
Rachel Chen, assistant professor
enzymatic glycoprotein remodeling

A. Guiseppi-Elie, professor
biosensors and biochips

Thomas Haas, professor
polymer engineering

Mark McHugh, professor
polymer solution behavior

Gary Tepper, assistant professor
supercritical fluids; biosensors

Gary Wnek, professor
electroactive polymers

Kenneth Wynne, professor
surface polymer science

Computer Science Department
James Ames IV, associate professor
medical applications of computer science

School of Medicine
Department of Biochemistry
Matthew Beckman, assistant professor
regulation of calcium homeostasis

C. Sato-Bigbee, assistant professor
signal transduction systems

Charles Chalfant, assistant professor
cell signaling

Jan Chlebowski, professor
enzyme structure and function

Sumitra Deb, professor
molecular cancer etiology

Swati Deb, associate professor
oncoprotein regulation of cell growth

Robert Diegelmann, professor
extra-cellular matrix metabolism

Gregorio Gill, associate professor
transcriptional regulation of metabolism

Darrell Peterson, professor
surface antigen protein structure

James Roesser, assistant professor
regulation of gene expression

Neel Scarsdale, assistant professor
macromolecular structure

Sarah Spiegel, professor
signal transduction systems

Tonie Wright, professor
protein and nucleic acid structure

Zendra Zehner, professor
signal transduction systems

Department of Biostatistics
Kelly J. Archer, assistant professor
analysis of microarray data, statistical computing, supervised learning methods

Al M. Best, associate professor
multivariate, graphical methods; design of experiments

W. Hans Carter, Jr., professor and chair
design and analysis of chemical mixture studies

Kathryn S. Dawson, assistant professor
design and analysis of clinical trials, analysis of microarry data

R. K. Elswick, associate professor
multivariate methods, clinical trials, equivalence methods

Chris Gennings, professor
design and analysis of chemical mixtures

Robert E. Johnson, associate professor
primary-care research, linear and generalized linear models

Donna R. McClish, associate professor
statistical methods in epidemiology, health services research, roc curves

Viswananthan Ramakrishnan, associate professor
methodological issues in microarray data analysis; longitudinal/clustered data analysis

Department of Human Genetics
Joyce Lloyd, associate professor
developmental regulation of globin genes

Jolene Windle, associate professor
molecular biology; cancer biology

Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Gail Christie, associate professor
gene expression, microbial evolution

Daniel Conrad, professor
mechanisms of hypersensitivity

Thomas Huff, professor and vice provost for life sciences
molecular immunology

Richard Marconi, associate professor
molecular pathogenesis

Mitzi Nagarkatti, professor
tumor immunology and immunotherapy, cellular and molecular immunology, cardiovascular biology

Department of Pathology
Dr. Catherine Dumur, assistant professor

Carleton T. Garrett, professor
gene expression in human tumors

Shawn E. Holt, associate professor
role of telomeres and telomerase in aging and cancer

Greg Miller, professor
bioinformatics, clinical laboratory method tandardization and quality control

Youngman Oh, professor
oncoproteomics, functional genomics, oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes

Joy Ware, professor
cellular and molecular biology of cancer

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Patrick Beardsley, associate professor
behavioral pharmacology

David Gewirtz, professor
cancer biology

Billy Martin, professor
drug metabolism

Michael Miles, associate professor
molecular pharmacology

Richard Moran, professor
cellular and molecular biology of cancer

Prakash Nagarkatti, professor
immunotoxicology/ immunopharmacology

Larry Povirk, professor
mutagenicity of chemotherapeutic agents

Les Satin, professor
cell physiology

Sandra Welch, professor
neuropharmacology of opiate abuse

Department of Physiology
Clive Baumgarten, professor
cardiophysiology

Richard Costanzo, professor
neurogenesis

Joseph Feher, professor
cardiophysiology

George Ford, professor
muscle physiology

Jack Grider, professor
neurophysiology

Roland Pittman, professor
microvascular physiology

Steven Price, professor
chemoreception

Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health
Tilahun Adera, professor and chair
epidemiology of hearing loss

Tegwyn H. Brickhouse, assistant professor

Umesh R. Desai, associate professor and chair
rational drug design of anticoagulants for thrombotic and cardiovascular disorders

Malgorzata Dukat, associate professor
formulation of SAR and SAFIR for central nervous system alpha2 adrenergic receptors, nicotinic cholinergic (nAChR) receptors and serotonin (5-HT) receptors

Shelley Harris, assistant professor
environmental epidemiology

Jack Lanier, professor
public health and politics

R. Leonard Vance, associate professor
environmental and occupational health

Department of Psychiatry
Robert Cohen, professor
child and adolescent psychiatry; health administration; severe system development; organizational leadership; family-centered services

School of Nursing
Mary Jo Grap, associate professor
pulmonary function in the critically ill

Sharon Humenick, professor
lactation for perinatal health protection

Judith Lewis, associate professor
infertility and women’s health

Cindy Munro, associate professor
oral health

Rita Pickler, associate professor
development of children at risk

Kathleen Sawin, associate professor
experience of living with chronic illness

Inez Tuck, professor
spirituality in nursing and health care

Janet Younger, professor
mastery of stress

School of Pharmacy
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Umesh R. Desai, associate professor and chair
and chairman rational drug design of anticoagulants for thrombotic and cardiovascular disorders

Richard A. Glennon, professor
rational drug design and synthesis, and pharmacological evaluation, of agents useful in the treatment of drug abuse and various CNS disorders

Glen Kellogg, associate professor
molecular graphics; computational chemistry

Lemont Kier, professor
complexity theory; medicinal chemistry

Jason P. Rife, assistant professor
ribosome structure and function, the ribosome’s role as a antibacterial target, and how altered ribosomes can impact human health

William Soine, associate professor
analytical medicinal chemistry; drug metabolism

Richard B. Westkaemper, associate professor
computational and experimental approaches to the study of neurotransmitter receptor structure and function

Brad Windle, associate professor
determining the roles for genes and proteins in pathways and how drugs interact with these pathways