Paula Gregory, PhD

Dr. Gregory is a full professor with appointments in the Departments of Genetics and Cell Biology and Anatomy at LSUHSC-New Orleans, as well as an adjunct appointment at Tulane University. She is the Co-Director of the Tulane MSCR program and the Co-Director of the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Clinical Research Education, Mentoring and Career Development Core.

Her PhD research was carried out at Tulane University on cancer cytogenetics. For her postdoctoral training, she worked with Dr. Bill Brinkley at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and did further training with Dr. Francis Collins at the University of Michigan. While at U of M, she started the first Education Program within a Human Genome Center. In 1993, she started the Genetics Education Office of the National Institute for Human Genome Research within the National Institutes of Health, as a national extension of her work at U of M. While at the NIH, she started several new and innovative educational programs for the media, policy makers, students, faculty and the public. These efforts earned her the NHGRI Award of Merit (1994), NIH Director's Award (1997), the NIH Award of Merit (1998) and the Champions of the James Award (2000). She accepted a faculty position at the Ohio State University in 1997 and began research focused on cancer genetics education. In 2002 Dr. Gregory joined the Department of Genetics at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center as an Associate Professor. Dr. Gregory was awarded the Copping Award for Excellence in Education in 2013, this award is voted on by both the medical students and the faculty and is the highest teaching award the university gives.

Dr. Gregory is also the Director of the Office of Faculty Development for the School of Medicine. In that role, she works with new faculty and fellows to facilitate their career transition and ensure their career success. Faculty Development includes on-boarding, New Faculty Orientation and continued research and career development support throughout the initial years of their appointment.

She has been awarded three NIH T35 Short Term Training Program grants (from NHLBI, NIDDK and NIAAA) to support medical student summer research. She also has funding from the American Heart Association to fund medical student research. Dr. Gregory is the Principal Investigator for an NIH R25 grant (NIAAA) that funds undergraduate and high school student research training. Along with collaborators at Ochsner, she has been awarded an NIH R25 Science Education Partnership Award to fund a program targeting the science teachers in the greater New Orleans area.

Dr. Gregory teaches in several graduate level courses, including two courses that she created Proposal Writing and Responsible Conduct of Research. She also helped create a genetics course for nursing students, Genetics Throughout the Lifespan and the Clinical Genetics course for the new LSUHSC Physician Assistant's Program.

Dr. Gregory is a member of several School of Medicine committees, including: the Women's Affairs Committee, the Faculty Development and Evaluation Committee, the Research Advisory Committee, the Student Promotions Committee and the Junior Faculty Guidance and Mentoring Committee. Dr. Gregory serves as the Course Director for Responsible Conduct of Research and Grant Writing.