Faculty

Thomas H. Champney, Ph.D.

Professor Prof. Practice Cell and Systems Biology
Publications
Biography: Dr. Thomas H. Champney earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 1984. His research investigated the role of the pineal gland and its hormone melatonin on integrative physiology. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Delaware investigating reproductive physiology and then accepted a...
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Theodore J. Lampidis, Ph.D.

Professor, Cell and Systems Biology & Member of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

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Amanda Myers, Ph.D.

Professors of Cell and Systems Biology
Publications
Biography: Amanda J Myers, PhD is the Principle Investigator of the Laboratory of Functional Neurogenomics at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and performed work there mapping the connections of retina midget and bipolar cells as well as mapping dopaminergic pathways in the midbrains of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s...
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Pedro J Salas, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Cell and Systems Biology
Publications
Biography: Dr. Salas obtained his medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires (1976) and completed a PhD. (1981, same institution) in Biophysics focusing in paracellular (tight junction) diffusion of cations in epithelia. He continued his post-doctoral training at State University of New York (Downstate Medical Ctr) and Cornell University Medical College in New York city....
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Ronald Desrosiers, Ph.D.

Research Professor , Laboratory Medicine
Publications
Biography: Dr. Desrosiers is currently Professor of Pathology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Before moving to Miami eight years ago, he was tenured Professor of Microbiology at Harvard Medical School and served as Director of Harvard’s Primate Research Center. His laboratory is credited with the discovery of the monkey virus called SIV (simian Immunodeficiency...
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W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D.

Scientific Director, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
Publications
Biography: Dr. Dalton Dietrich is Scientific Director at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the Kinetic Concepts Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in Anatomy from the Medical College of Virginia in 1979 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology at Washington University,...
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Juan Dominguez-Bendala, Ph.D.

Research Professor of Surgery, Cellular Transplantation
Publications
Biography: Dr. Domínguez-Bendala obtained his undergraduate degree (BSc) in Biological Sciences at the University of Seville (Spain) in 1993. After his graduation, he served as an officer (second lieutenant) in the Spanish Air Force, in the context of a special military service program for outstanding college students. He got an MSc degree from University College London (UCL)...
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Jae K. Lee, Ph.D.

Professor of Neurological Surgery
Publications
Biography: I received my PhD in Neuroscience from Georgtown University where I studied plasticity of local reflexes after spinal cord injury. I went on to do my postdoctoral research at University of California San Diego where I investigated molecules that inhibit axon regeneration. I joined the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis as a faculty in 2011 where I continue my research in...
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Carlos T. Moraes, Ph.D.

Professor of Neurology
Publications
Biography: My independent group at the University of Miami was established in 1993 and one of its main focuses in the last decade has been the study of mitochondrial defects and neurodegenerative processes. We have used patients' cells and genetically modified mice to create models of mitochondrial disorders associated with defects in either nuclear or mitochondrial DNA. We are...
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Daniel Pelaez, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Publications
Biography: Dr. Pelaez is a scientist and biomedical engineer and an expert in stem cell and molecular biology, tissue engineering, biochemistry, and regenerative medicine. Originally from Colombia and as the son of two head and neck cancer surgeons, Dr. Pelaez experienced first-hand the frustrations that arise when suboptimal and non-curative treatments are the only available options...
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Valery I. Shestopalov, Ph.D.

Professor of Ophthalmology
Publications
Biography: I graduated from Moscow State University in Russia and obtained a PhD degree in molecular genetics at the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics in Moscow. I also received postdoctoral training at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. My background includes a broad knowledge of cell and molecular biology, cell-cell...
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Mario Stevenson, Ph.D.

Professor, Infectious Diseases

Biography: Dr. Mario Stevenson is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Director of the Institute of AIDS and Emerging Infectious Diseases (IAEID), Director of the Global Virus Network, and Co-Director of the Miami Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) at the University of Miami. Prior to 2020, Dr. Stevenson was the David Freelander Chair for AIDS Research at the University of Massachusetts...
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Pantelis Tsoulfas, M.D.

Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery
Publications
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Roland Jurecic, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Email: rjurecic@med.miami.edu
Phone: 305-243-6002
Fax: 305-243-4409
Address: Papanicolaou Building, Room 314

Susana G. Rossi, Ph.D.

Voluntary Research Assistant Professor, Cell Biology
Research Summary: Acetylcholinesterase, Neuromuscular Junction, Membrane Depolarization, Nerve Muscle Interaction
Email: srossi@med.miami.edu
Phone: 305-243-6940
Address: Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, Room #4168

Nevis L. Fregien, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Cell Biology
Research Summary: Regulation of glycosyltransferase gene expression in cancer and development virally induced inflammation in middle ear epithelial cells.
Email: nfregien@med.miami.edu
Phone: 305-243-6941
Address: Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, Room #7177

Robert Warren, Ph.D.

Associate Professor Emeritus, Cell Biology
Research Summary: Effects of transformation upon the actin cytoskeleton
Email: rwarren@med.miami.edu
Phone: 305-243-6923
Address: Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, Room #4136