Prospective mentors for the University of Missouri Comparative Medicine Program
| Name/Degree | Rank | Appointments | Role | Research Interests |
| Amos-Landgraf, James / PhD | Associate Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology | Mentor, Core Faculty | Animal models of human colon cancer and potential chemotherapeutic development |
| Anderson, Deborah / PhD | Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology | Mentor | Host pathogen interactions involved in plague disease and immunity |
| Balboula, Ahmed / DVM, PhD | Assistant Professor | Animal sciences | Mentor | Reproductive biology |
| Bender, Shawn / PhD | Associate Professor | Biomedical Sciences | Mentor | Mechanisms of coronary and cardiac dysfunction in swine and mouse models |
| Brown, Pamela / PhD | Associate Professor | Biological Sciences | Mentor | Microbial cell biology |
| Bryda, Elizabeth / PhD | Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology; Director, Rat Resource and Research Center | Program Co-Director, Mentor | Molecular genetics of human disease using animal models |
| Chen, Shiyou / DVM, PhD | Professor, W. Alton Jones Endowed Chair in Surgical Research | Surgery | Mentor | Vascular diseases, fatty liver disease |
| Clarke, Lane / DVM, PhD | Professor | Biomedical Sciences; Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center | Mentor | Stem cell biology and goblet cell function in normal and cystic fibrosis small intestine |
| Coates, Joan / DVM, MS | Professor | Veterinary Medicine and Surgery | Mentor | Comparative and translational research of neurodegenerative disease, i.e. ALS |
| Cook, Jimi / DVM, PhD | William and Kathryn Allen Distinguished Professor | Orthopaedic Surgery (Veterinary Medicine and Surgery) | Mentor | Comparative orthopaedic surgery; arthritis |
| Cornelison, Dawn / PhD | Professor | Biological Sciences | Mentor | Skeletal muscle development and regeneration |
| Cummings, Kevin / PhD | Associate Professor | Biomedical Sciences | Mentor | CNS control of cardio-respiratory function |
| De Figueiredo, Paul / PhD | Professor | Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Veterinary Pathobiology | Mentor | Host mechanisms that control intracellular parasitism by viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens |
| Domeier, Timothy L. / PhD | Associate Professor | Medical Pharmacology and Physiology | Mentor | Changes in intracellular concentration of calcium within heart muscle during heart disease |
| Ericsson, Aaron / DVM, PhD | Assistant Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology, Director; MU Metagenomics Center | Mentor; Core Faculty | Influence of gut microbiota on animal models of disease; role of commensal gut microbiota in intestinal inflammation and colitis-associated colorectal cancer; segmented filamentous bacteria and its influence on the development and function of intestinal immune responses |
| Franklin, Craig / DVM, PhD | Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology, Director; MU Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center | Principle Investigator; Program Director; Mentor | Inflammatory bowel diseases, microbiomes, mutant rodent pathobiology, animal models of infectious disease |
| Gil Pagés, Diana / PhD | Associate Professor | Surgery, MMI, Bio-engineering | Mentor | Immunology, Cancer immunotherapy |
| Hoffman, Timothy / PhD | Professor; Research Career Scientist | Internal Medicine (Chemistry) (Nuclear Engineering); HS Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, Columbia, MO | Mentor | Nuclear oncology, molecular imaging, development of targeted radiotherapeutic agents* *Please contact the lab no later than 6-8 weeks prior to desired rotation start date to allow time for completion of necessary paperwork and background check. |
| Johnson, Marc / PhD | Professor | Molecular Microbiology & Immunology | Mentor | Viral replication |
| Kline, David / PhD | Associate Professor | Biomedical Sciences; Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center | Mentor | Synaptic and neuronal plasticity in the brain during hypoxia |
| Lever, Teresa / PhD | Associate Professor | Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery | Mentor | Mechanisms of cranial neuropathy and neuroplasticity in dysphagia |
| Lorson, Chris / PhD | Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology (Molecular Microbiology & Immunology) | Mentor | Translational research, drug development and gene therapy in neurodegeneration, including Spinal Muscular Atrophy |
| Ma, Wenjun / PhD | Associate Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology | Mentor | Viral diseases of animals, with an emphasis on emerging zoonotic viral infections |
| Martinez-Lemus, Luis A. / DVM, PhD | Professor | Medical Pharmacology and Physiology | Mentor | Vascular remodeling |
| McDonald, Kerry / PhD | Professor | Medical Pharmacology and Physiology | Mentor | Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate striated muscle contraction and the ways that these processes are altered by disease and other physiological stresses such as exercise |
| Mohan, Rajiv / PhD | Professor | Ophthalmology (Veterinary Medicine and Surgery) | Mentor | Corneal gene therapy, nanomedicine, and wound healing. |
| Nichols, Nicole / PhD | Assistant Professor | Biomedical Sciences | Mentor | Mechanisms of respiratory plasticity in models of motor neuron death |
| Padilla, Jaume / PhD | Associate Professor | Nutrition and Exercise Physiology; Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center | Mentor | Physiological and molecular links between physical inactivity, metabolic disease and vascular complications |
| Parks, Elizabeth / PhD | Professor | Nutrition and Exercise Physiology | Mentor | Liver metabolism, body weight regulation |
| Phillips, Charlotte / PhD | Professor | Biochemistry (Child Health, Dermatology) | Mentor | Muscle and skeletal interactions and related therapeutic agents in inherited and acquired diseases of bone disorders |
| Prather, Randall / PhD | Professor | Animal Science | Mentor | Early embryo development, transgenesis, in vitro embryo production, transcriptional profiling, genetically-engineered swine |
| Rector, R. Scott / PhD | Associate Professor | Nutrition and Exercise Physiology | Mentor | Causes of the development and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) |
| Reinero, Carol / DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Internal Med) | Professor | Veterinary Medicine and Surgery | Mentor | Translational models of respiratory disease; microbiome studies of low biomass sites; immunology |
| Rosenfeld, Cheryl / DVM, PhD | Professor | Biomedical Sciences | Mentor | Effects of maternal and paternal diet and exposure to environmental chemicals on offspring metabolic and behavioral disorders |
| Schrum, Adam / PhD | Associate Professor | Molecular Microbiology and Immunology | Mentor | Physiologic signaling networks and how they function in molecular and cellular immunity |
| Schulz, Laura / PhD | Associate Professor | Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health | Mentor | Placental development in rodent models |
| Segal, Steven / PhD | Margaret P. Mulligan Distinguished Professor in Medical Research; Chancellor’s Professor of Research Excellence | Medical Pharmacology and Physiology (Internal Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Bioengineering); Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center | Mentor | Blood flow control in the microcirculation, skeletal muscle, exercise, aging |
| Shirwan, Haval / PhD | Professor | Child Health | Mentor | Autoimmunity, transplantation tolerance, vaccines, cancer immunoprevention and therapy |
| Skyberg, Jerod / PhD | Associate Professor | Veterinary Pathobiology | Mentor | Mechanisms of Brucella-induced articular Inflammation: Immunity and Immunotherapeutics for Tularemia |
| Smith, Jeffrey / PhD | Professor | Radiology | Mentor | Design, synthesis, purification, characterization and evaluation of peptide-based radiopharmaceuticals for prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy using PET, SPECT, CT and MRI imaging modalities |
| Stavey-O’Carroll, Kevin / MD, PhD | Professor | Surgery | Mentor | Microbiome and immunology in liver disease / hepatocellular cancer |
| Teixeiro, Emma / PhD | Associate Professor | Molecular Microbiology and Immunology | Mentor | T cell immune responses against infection and cancer |
| Thakkar, Mahesh / PhD | Professor | Neurology | Mentor | Sleep and sleep disorders |
| Whiting, Rebecca / PhD | Assistant Professor | Ophthalmology | Mentor | Translational therapeutics for retinal and neurodegenerative disease in canine models |