Meet the UAPA Executive Board
Meet the current members of the UAPA Executive Board and Heads of Committees.
Angela (Angie) Greenman, PhD, MSc
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Angie received her MSc in Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying the effects of cancer on muscle function. She continued her studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand, completing a PhD in Medicine and Physiology. There, she studied the effects of diabetes on the heart and how exercise might mitigate some of these negative impacts. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate III in the Department of Physiology working with Dr. Samantha Harris. She is focused on the functional effects of a protein in the heart that regulates contraction and relaxation, cardiac myosin-binding protein-C. Currently, she is funded by a F32 from NHLBI to explore the effects of post-translational modifications of cardiac myosin-binding protein-C and possible crosstalk in health and disease. Angie hopes to start her own lab in the future, combining her expertise in functional assays with her interest in how exercise affects disease phenotypes in cardiac and skeletal muscle. Angie joined the UAPA due to a passion for advocating for postdoc scholars, both professionally and interpersonally.
Email: [email protected]u |
Nicole Jimenez, PhD
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Nicole is currently a postdoc in Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz’s lab at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix and has been using both her passion for advocacy work and science to assist with her research on the cervicovaginal microbiome. She is currently facilitating research investigating the cervicovaginal microbiome and its role in endometrial cancer and gynecologic conditions like endometriosis. Specifically, she is utilizing her skills in microbiome analysis, microbial genomics, computational biology to better understand potential oncogenic bacteria and beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus and their contributions to the cervicovaginal microenvironment in health and disease. She is delighted to be part of Dr. Herbst-Kralovetz’s lab as they are currently using multi-omic approaches with immunoproteomics, metabolomics, and genomics in conjunction with the lab’s 3-D human cell models and large clinical studies to set the foundation for creation of innovative microbial biomarker diagnostics. In addition, her lab’s societal goals of expediting the research pipeline from bench to bedside try to focus on health disparities within gynecologic conditions in context to Arizona’s diverse populations with many studies focusing on the Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, Aging communities.
Email: [email protected] |
Ashton Jorgensen, PhD
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Ashton received her PhD in Pharmacology from LSU Health Shreveport, Shreveport, LA where her project focused on Neurogranin-mediated calcium-calmodulin signaling in cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells. Currently, she is a postdoctoral trainee in Dr. Taben Hale’s laboratory at the University of Arizona-College of Medicine-Phoenix. Ashton’s studies explore the sex-specific impact of transient angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition on mechanisms of cardiac fibroblast-mediated extracellular matrix remodeling using in vivo and in vitro techniques. In addition to her research, Ashton served as vice president of the graduate student council at LSU Health Shreveport, where she gained valuable leadership experience and advocated for her peers' needs. Ashton is eager to bring this leadership experience to the UAPA, where she aims to enhance community building and professional development for fellow postdocs.
Email: [email protected] |
Miriam Keppler, PhD
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Miriam received her PhD in Astronomy from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where she worked on the detection and characterization of newly formed extrasolar planets and their birth environments using observations at various different wavelengths. In 2019, she joined the University of Arizona as a postdoc working in Dr Erika Hamden’s UV lab at Steward Observatory. In her current role, she leads the development of a data processing pipeline for Aspera, a NASA-funded SmallSat mission with the goal to observe the environments of nearby galaxies. Miriam joined the UAPA social events committee to help build a welcoming and supportive environment for newly arrived and long established postdocs alike.
Email: [email protected] |
Karla Vargas, PhD
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COMING SOON!
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Alane Blythe Dy, PhD, MSPH
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Alane is a postdoctoral research associate and a T32 fellow working in the Population Sciences Unit, headed by Dr. Stefano Guerra, of the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center in the University of Arizona Health Sciences. In her current role, she leverages high dimensional data from longitudinal epidemiological cohorts to 1) identify circulating molecular determinants related to lung function decline occurring in chronic airway diseases, and their potential role in shared molecular underpinnings of cardiovascular disease and COPD , and 2) model lung function trajectories over time and determine whether certain trajectories are associated with an increased risk for morbidity and mortality. Alane joined the UAPA to help connect current and future postdocs with relevant networking and professional development opportunities. Connect with her through email or LinkedIn.
Email: [email protected]u |
