Graduate Faculty Mentors

Jonathan Bird, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Email: j.bird@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-8633

Research Interests

• Hearing loss
• Molecular motors and cytoskeletal disease
• Gene therapy
• High-content screening and drug discovery

Olga Guryanova, MD, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Email: oguryanova@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-8590

Research Interests

• Cancer
• Hematopoietic Stem Cells
• Epigenetics
• Drug discovery

Jeffrey Harrison, Ph.D.
Professor & Concentration Director

Email: jharriso@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-627-9208

Research Interests

• Cancer
• Chemokines
• Receptors

Daniel Kopinke, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Email: dkopinke@ufl.edu
Phone: 352 294-5355

Research Interests

• Tissue Regeneration
• Primary Cilia and Cilopathies
• Fatty Fibrosis
• Drug Discovery

Brian Law, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Email: bklaw@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-9423

Research Interests

• Cancer
• Cell Cycle Regulation
• Drug Discovery

Ekaterina Lobanova, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Ophthalmology)

Email: elobanova@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-8787

Research Interests

• Ophthalmology

Erica Levitt, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Email: erica.levitt@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-8651

Research Interests

• Neuropharmacology
• Opioids
• Respiratory

Hendrik Luesch, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair (Medicinal Chemistry)

Email: luesch@cop.ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-7738

Research Interests

• Drug discovery (bioassay development, NMR spectroscopic structure determination, total synthesis, mechanism-of-action studies, preclinical and clinical development of candidate molecules)

Jeffrey Martens, Ph.D.
Professor

Email: martensj@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-5352

Research Interests

• Neuropharmacology
• Olfaction
• Cardiovascular

Research Interests

• Basal ganglia circuitry dysfunction
• Psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders

Steven D. Munger, PhD
Professor 

Email: steven.munger@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-5479

Research Interests

• Neuropharmacology
• Olfaction

Roger Papke, Ph.D.
Professor

Email: rlpapke@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-392-4712

Research Interests

• Drug Discovery
• Ion Channels
• Receptors

Leah Reznikov, PhD
Assistant Professor – Physiological Sciences

Email: leahreznikov@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-4059

Research Interests

• Interface of the nervous system and the airway
• Models of asthma and cystic fibrosis
• Discover new mechanisms of airway disease

Ashish Sharma, MBBS, PhD
Associate Professor – Surgery

Email: ashish.sharma@surgery.ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-8660

Research Interests

• Mechanisms of aortic aneurysm pathobiology
• Mechanisms and therapeutic strategies for post-lung transplant injury
• Adenosine and sphingosine receptor biology in lung preservation and attenuation of lung IR injury

Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
Associate Chair (Radiation Oncology)

Email: siemadw@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-8231

Research Interests

• Experimental approaches and treatment strategies that seek to enhance cancer patient care

Lee Sweeney, Ph.D.
Professor

Email: lsweeney@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-9416

Research Interests

• Cardiovascular Disease
• Muscular Distrophy
• Gene Therapies

Nikhil Urs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Email: nikhilurs@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-5727

Research Interests

• Dopamine neurotransmission
• Neuropharmacology
• Dopamine Circuit mapping
• Parkinson’s disease
• Schizophrenia

Daniel Wesson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Chair

Email: danielwesson@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-294-8767

Research Interests

• Olfaction
• Sensory-driven motivated behaviors
• Attention
• Neurodegeneration

Rui Xiao, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Aging and Geriatric Research)

Email: rxiao@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-9389

Research Interests

• Interactions between genetic factors and environmental factors in the process of animal aging