Physician Scientist Program (PSP) and traditional MD/PhD students in Pathology receive extensive training in the mechanisms of human disease, which emphasizes cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, immunology and microbiology. Pathology integrates these areas of study with the goal of improving disease management at the organismal level. Using a variety of research tools provides our doctoral students an understanding of disease processes that allows them to translate mechanistic insights from the laboratory to the clinic.Read More
PSP students must be admitted to the Physician Scientist Program. PSP students receive tuition remission, a stipend for living expenses, and health insurance for both PhD and MD portions of their training. PSP students begin their first laboratory rotation the summer before entering medical school.
The first 2 years of PSP training correlates with the first 2 years of medical school with the exception of a second laboratory rotation in the summer between years 1 and 2. After taking Step 1 of the USMLE at the end of academic year 2, PSP students begin their dissertation research.
Admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. is granted after successful completion of the qualifying exam at the beginning of year 4. PSP students present their ongoing research to the assembled researchers in the department once or twice per academic year in the weekly Pathology Research Conference. PSP students are expected complete their scholarly research and successfully defend their dissertation in 3-4 years. The final 2 years in the program are devoted to clinical training in medical school clerkships.
The table below provides a synopsis of research areas and contact information for research faculty in the Pathology Department. Click on individual faculty names for links to more detailed research descriptions.
Tulane School of Medicine
| Investigator | Phone
(504-988) |
Email (@Tulane.edu) | Office | System/Organ | Disease of Emphasis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen, Wei | 0474 | wchen18 | 318 BIC | Bone | aging, inflammation, bone metastasis |
| Dash, Srikanta, PhD | 2519 | sdash | 6503 | Liver | hepatitis viruses, immune injury, cancer |
| Flemington, Erik, PhD | 1167 | erik | 814 LCRC | EBV/Immune | cancer, transcriptomics, bioinformatics |
| Gragert, Loren, PhD | 7219 | lgragert | 811 LCRC | Immune | immunogenetics, transplant informatics |
| Han, Chang, MD, PhD | 7195 | chan | 8301A | Liver | hepatocellular carcinoma, epigenetics |
| Khambu, Bilon, PhD | 6024 | bkhambu | 6549A | Liver | Liver metabolism, regeneration and cancer |
| Lee, Sean, PhD | 1331 | slee30 | 808 LCRC | Pediatric cancers | chromosomal translocations |
| Li, Yi-Ping, PhD | 0475 | yli81 | 319 BIC | Bone | formation and resorption, metastasis |
| Lin, Zhen, MD, PhD | 1506 | zlin | 742 LCRC | Epstein-Barr virus | virus-associated cancers, bioinformatics |
| Morris, Gilbert, PhD | 6953 | gmorris2 | 257 JBJ | Lung | cancer, fibrosis, environmental exposures |
| Savkovic, Suzana, PhD | 1409 | ssavkovi | 306 JBJ | Colon | lipid droplets, inflammation, cancer |
| Tian, Di, MD, PhD | 0793 | dtian2 | 6513 | Brain | cancer, sleep, molecular diagnostics |
| Wu, Tong, MD, PhD | 5210 | twu | 8712B | Liver | inflammation, carcinogenesis, signaling |
| Yin, Xiao-Ming, MD, PhD | 1162 | xmyin | 6519 | Liver | autophagy, alcoholic-, fatty-liver disease |
| Zhang, Haitao, PhD | 7696 | hzhang | 807 LCRC | Prostate | cancer, androgen signaling |
| Zhang, Jinqiang, PhD | 5209 | jzhang | 8301 | Liver | noncoding RNAs, signaling |
Tulane National Primate Center
| Investigator | Phone (985-871-) | Email (@tulane.edu) | System/Organ | Disease Process |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cariappa Annaiah, MBBS, MD | 6632 | carippa | Immune | inflammation |
| Robert Blair, DVM, PhD | 6426 | rblair3 | Immune | infectious disease |
| Peter Didier, DVM, PhD | 6289 | pjdidier | Immune | infectious disease |
| Ronald Veazey, DVM, PhD | 6228 | rveazey | Immune | SIV/HIV |
| Xiaolei Wang, PhD | 6618 | xwang | Immune | infectious disease |
| Huanbin Xu, PhD | 6401 | hxu | Immune | SIV/HIV |
| Student | Lab Phone (504-988) | Email (@tulane.edu) | Lab Room | Mentor | Research Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D. Giovanni Biagini | 7219 | dbiagini | 814 LCRC | Gragert | Predicting HLA serological types with machine learning |
| Morgan Collins | 1409 | mcollins2 | 314 JBJ | Savkovic | Colon carcinogenesis |
| Marian Dribus | 7219 | mdribus | 814 LCRC | Gragert | HLA antibody markup language (HAML)- DP81 epitope analysis |
| Dane Flinchum | 1331 | dflinchum | 808 LCRC | Lee | Epigenetic analyses of desmoplastic small round cell tumor |
| Bonita Hartono | 1331 | ahartono | 808 LCRC | Lee | SIK1 promotes tumorigenesis in desmoplastic small round cell tumor |
| Rida Iftikhar | 1409 | riftikhar | 314 JBJ | Savkovic | Adipose triglyceride lipase in lipid droplet utilization in colon cancer |
| Justin Magrath* | 1331 | jmagrath | 808 LCRC | Lee | Desmoplastic small round cell tumor stem cells |
| Sudurika Mukhopadhyay | 6923 | smukhopa | 221 JBJ | Morris | herpesvirus in lung tumorigenesis |
| Grace Wager | 7219 | gwager | 814 LCRC | Gragert | Transplant informatics |
*PSP student
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The BMS office has an individual dedicated to career counseling. The Office of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies (OGPS) offers career counseling and workshops to assist in career development. Career workshop information is distributed to all interested parties via Canvas.
Contact Lauren Lukkarila (llukkarila@tulane.edu) to be included in Canvas distributions. Additional resources for career development can be found on the Office of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies website (ogps.tulane.edu).
| Name | Start Year | End Year | Mentor | First Possition | Current Possition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aboulnasr, Fatma | 2011 | 2015 | Dash | Research fellow. Mayo Clinic. 2015-2018 | Pediatrics residency. Texas Tech University. 2020-2024 |
| Cao, Subing | 2008 | 2014 | Flemington | Postdoctoral fellow. Tulane University. 2014-2019 | |
| Concha, Monica | 2009 | 2015 | Flemington | Postdoc, InnoGenomics Technology, New Orleans LA, 2015- | |
| Kwon, Hyunjoo | 2012 | 2017 | Wu | Working for a pharmaceutical company in Korea | |
| Li, Jianzhou | 2014 | 2018 | Zhang | Research Assistant M.D. Anderson | |
| Nakhoul, Hani | 2013 | 2019 | Flemington | Post-doc NIH | Resident, Graduate Medical Education, Tulane University |
| O'Grady, Christina | 2011 | 2016 | Flemington | Post-doc, Univ Liege, Leige Belgium, 2016- | |
| Penrose, Harrison | 2015 | 2019 | Savkovic | Completing MD/PhD Program | |
| Poat, Bret | 2007 | 2010 | Dash | Postdoc, St Jude Children's Hospital, Memphis TN, 2010-2011 | Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Miami Beach, FL 2016- |
| Qadir, Ximena | 2010 | 2014 | Wu | Epidemiology Postdoctoral fellowship. NIH- National Cancer Institute. 2014-2015 | Director. Clinical Services. WSMC/NIH. 2017- |
| Strong, Michael | 2011 | 2015 | Flemington | Completed MD/PhD Program, 2015-2017 | Neurosurgery Resident, Univ Michigan Med School, Ann Arbor MI, 2017- |
| Ungerleider, Nathan | 2012 | 2017 | Wu | Postdoc, Tulane University, 2018-2019 | Asst Director, Next-Gen Sequening Analysis Core, Tulane University, 2019- |
| Xu, Beibei | 2009 | 2014 | Morris | Postdoc, Tulane University 2014-2017 | Postdoc, Univ Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 2017- |
| Yao, Lu | 2010 | 2015 | Wu | Postdoc, UCSF, San Francisco CA, 2016-2017 | Research Scientist II, Poseida Therapeutics Inc, San Diego, 2019- |
Contact and Apply
For more information about the Department of Pathology PSP program, contact Gil Morris, Email: gmorris2@tulane.edu.
For more information and application instructions for MD/PhD program Click Here
