Research
Robert G. Carroll, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Educationally focused research: outcomes and best practices in medically related physiology teaching
Stefan Clemens Ph.D.
Research Focus: Understanding the role of dopamine function in the spinal cord, and its role in Restless Legs Syndrome and chronic pain
Lisandra E. de Castro Brás, Ph.D.
Research Focus: To define the roles of the extracellular matrix in scar formation and cardiac function
Jessica M. Ellis, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Determining the regulatory nodes in fatty acid metabolism and their role in health and disease in muscle and brain
Alexandra (Bobbie) Garvin, Ph.D
Research Focus:
Mechanistic interrogation of cardiac fibroblast phenotype switching for the elucidation of novel therapeutic targets for heart failure.
Laxmansa C. Katwa, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Cardiac Fibrosis: Emerging role of fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in ECM collagen turnover in heart disease
Leslie M. Kennedy, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Investigating post-translational modifications (PTMs) on translational machinery and mechanisms by which these PTMs modulate heart disease susceptibility.
Robert M. Lust, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Translational physiology: Investigating the adaptive and maladaptive responses of the heart to stress and disease
Richard H. Ray, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Best practices in medical education. Outcomes of pre-matriculation programs and the determination of predictors of success in medical school
David A. Tulis Ph.D.
Research Focus: Determining cellular, molecular, and genetic signals and mechanisms that serve as foundations for cardiac and vascular diseases
Espen E. Spangenburg, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Investigating mechanisms that regulate physiological and metabolic properties of skeletal muscle
Jitka Virag, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Exploring the involvement of ephrinA1/EphA signaling in regulating normal cardiac tissue physiology and improving outcomes in acute and chronic pathophysiologic heart conditions
Dianne M. Walters, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Animal modeling and genetic susceptibility to environmental lung diseases with collaborative support for pulmonary exposures, lung function measurements, and other techniques essential for pulmonary research
Adjunct Faculty
Kori L. Brewer, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Exploring mechanisms and management of pain syndromes associated with spinal cord injury and other neurologic disorders
Ronald N. Cortright, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Understanding cellular bioenergetics and metabolism, with emphasis on skeletal muscle, in order to develop strategies to treat obesity and type II diabetes
Theodore G. Graber, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Determining molecular mechanisms underlying age-related decline in physical function and muscle health and examining exercise as an intervention for sarcopenia and frailty
Hu Huang, Ph.D.
Research Focus: Investigating how central nervous system controls food intake, energy expenditure and body weight homeostasis in response to exercise and diet
Physiology Affiliations
Several of our faculty are integral to the East Carolina Obesity and Diabetes Institute
We are active in the East Carolina Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience
Seminars with speakers internal and external are held through the Physiology Department, the Joint Metabolism Lab Meeting seminars, the Neuroscience Collaborative Meeting series, and the ECODI seminar series.