Contact Us
Marie Mizer: 216.368.1359
The CWRU MSSRP primary faculty includes approximately 50 productive and highly collaborative investigators from within the CWRU SOM and CCLCM-CWRU who all have active research programs in the areas of (1) digestive & liver diseases, (2) diabetes, (3) nutrition & metabolism, (4) kidney diseases, or (5) digestive, liver, & kidney imaging.
The first stage of the MSSRP application process is to research a few mentors whose work interests you.
- Please use the information below as a jumping-off point for your own research on mentors you may want to work with.
- You should utilize the CWRU, UH, and/or Cleveland Clinic websites to get more details about what each mentor is researching.
- You should utilize PubMed and browse the list of publications for mentors you are interested in working with.
- We encourage you to consider basic and translational research in addition to clinical research.
- Once you have determined which Mentor you are interested in, click on the name in the list below to generate an email.
| Faculty Research & Case MSSRP T35 Mentoring | |||
| Mentor | Research Interests | ||
| Group 1 : Digestive Diseases | |||
| FABIO COMINELLI, MD, PhD, Hermann Menges, Jr. Professor of Medicine & Pathology, Chief, Division of GI & Liver Diseases, CWRU SoM; Director, Case MSSRP T35; Co-Director, Digestive Diseases T32 (NIDDK) | Role of cytokines & gut microbiota in IBD | ||
| WENDY GOODMAN, PhD, Instructor of Pathology, CWRU SoM | Regulatory T-cells in CD | ||
| ANDREI IVANOV, PhD, Staff Scientist, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Actomyosin cytoskeleton & intestinal barrier dysfunction in IBD | ||
| JEANNETTE MESSER, DVM, PhD, Assistant Staff Scientist, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | HMGB1 in IBD | ||
| THERESA PIZARRO, PhD, Professor of Pathology & Medicine, CWRU; Case MSSRP T35 Co-Director | Mucosal immunity | ||
| FLORIAN RIEDER, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor (Medicine), CCLCM/CWRU SoM | Gut Microbiome-induced Intestinal Fibrosis | ||
| RUI WANG, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgical Oncology, & Pathology, CWRU SOM | Immune-regulation roles of NPTX2 in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) | ||
| Group 2 : Liver Diseases | |||
| J. MARK BROWN, PhD, Associate Staff Scientist, Cardiovascular Disease & Metabolic Sciences, Director of Research, Center for Microbiome & Human Health Cleveland Clinic LRI, Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Gut bacterial metabolite TMAO in host stress response to insulin resistance | ||
| SRINIVASAN DASARATHY, MD, Staff Scientist, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Mechanisms of sarcopenia in cirrhosis; clinical research in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis | ||
| MARIA HATZOGLOU, PhD, Professor of Nutrition & Pharmacology, CWRU SoM | Molecular mechanisms regulating gene expression during nutrient stress | ||
| FENG LIN, PhD, Staff Scientist, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Compliment activation to improve diabetes | ||
| TAKUYA SAKAGUCHI, PhD, Associate Staff, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Biliary system formation; nonalcoholic steatohepatitis using a zebrafish model | ||
| Group 3 : Diabetes & Metabolic Diseases | |||
| J. MARK BROWN, PhD, Associate Staff Scientist, Cardiovascular Disease & Metabolic Sciences, Cleveland Clinic LRI, Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Gut bacterial metabolite TMAO in host stress response to insulin resistance | ||
| ATUL CHOPRA, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Associate Director, Rare Disease Program, Harrington Discovery Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland, CWRU SoM | Asprosin neutralization as an anti-obesity treatment | ||
| DARCY FREEDMAN, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, CWRU SoM | Nutritional interventions & obesity | ||
| ROSE GUBITOSI-KLUG, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics (Endocrinology) & Associate Professor of Pharmacology, CWRU SoM | Epidemiology of long-term type I diabetes | ||
| GRACE McCOMSEY, MD, Professor of Pediatrics & Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases/ Rheumatology, CWRU SoM | Gut integrity markers after HIV infection & metabolic complications | ||
| Group 4: Kidney Diseases | |||
| WALTER BORON, MD, PhD, David N. & Inez Myers/Antonio Scarpa Professor & Department Chair of Physiology & Biophysics, CWRU SoM | RTPT-δ in acid-base disturbances in renal proximal tubes | ||
| LESLIE BRUGGEMAN, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Nephrology & Hypertension), CWRU SoM | Molecular and cellular biology of chronic kidney diseases | ||
| KATHERINE DELL, MD, Staff Scientist, Pediatric Nephrology, Cleveland Clinic Pediatric Institute; Professor of Pediatrics (Nephrology), CCLCM-CWRU | Imaging of ARPKD in kidney disease | ||
| CHRISTOPHER FLASK, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiology, Pediatrics & Biomedical Engineering, CWRU SoM and School of Engineering | Imaging of ARPKD in kidney disease | ||
| STANLEY HAZEN, MD, PhD, Van Bleeksma Chair of Vascular Cell Biology & Artherosclerosis, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Diet-induced gut microbiota-mediated pathways & chronic kidney disease | ||
| JOHN O’TOOLE, MD, Staff Scientist, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU & CWRU SoM | Genetics of human kidney disease | ||
| MAHBOOB RAHMAN, MD, Professor of Medicine (Nephrology & Hypertension), CWRU SoM | Predictors of chronic renal insufficiency progression | ||
| JEFFREY SCHELLING, MD, Professor of Medicine (Nephrology & Hypertension), CWRU SoM | Mechanisms of chronic kidney disease in diabetes | ||
| JOHN SEDOR, MD, Staff Scientist, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Professor of Physiology & Biophysics, CWRU SoM | Nephropathy susceptibility genes and kidney disease | ||
| JONATHAN STAMLER, MD, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Chair and Professor of Medicine & Professor of Biochemistry, CWRU SoM | S-nitrosylation in renal function | ||
| Group 5: GI & Liver Tumorigenesis | |||
| AMITBAH CHAK, MD, Professor of Medicine (GI & Liver Diseases) & Oncology, CWRU SoM | Barrett’s esophagus (BE) & esophageal adenocarcinoma, novel endoscopic imaging techniques | ||
| GREGORY COOPER, MD, Professor of Medicine (GI & Liver Diseases) | Screening & surveillance for colorectal cancer (CRC) | ||
| AMAR DESAI, PhD, Assistant Professor, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, CWRU SoM | 15-PGDH in improving bone marrow transplantation | ||
| KISHORE GUDA, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, CWRU SoM | Genetics of colon & esophageal cancer | ||
| ZHENGHONG LEE, PhD, Professor of Radiology & Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, CWRU SoM | Imaging technologies for liver cancer proliferation | ||
| SANFORD MARKOWITZ, MD, PhD, Frances Wragg Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics, Genetics & Genome Sciences, & Molecular Biology & Microbiology, CWRU SoM | Immunogenetics of CRC | ||
| ZHENGHE WANG, PhD, Dale H. Cowan M.D. & Ruth Goodman Blum Professor of Cancer Research & Professor of Genetics & Genome Sciences, CWRU SoM | Metabolic programming in CRC | ||
| Group 6: Inflammation/Infection | |||
| DONALD ANTHONY, Jr, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases & HIV) & Pathology, CWRU SoM; HIV T32 Program Director | Immune cell function during hepatitis C virus infection | ||
| ROBERT BONOMO, MD, Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, Molecular Biology & Microbiology, CWRU SoM | Genetic determinants of β-lactamases | ||
| SAHERA DIRAJLAL-FARGO, MS, DO, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, CWRU SoM | Pediatric HIV complications, inflammation & immune activation | ||
| CURTIS DONSKEY, MD, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases & HIV), CWRU SoM | Mechanisms used by normal intestinal microflora to inhibit colonization by nosocomial pathogens | ||
| CRAIG HODGES, PhD, Associate Professor of Genetics & Genome Sciences | CFTR gene function & mouse models of cystic fibrosis | ||
| ALAN LEVINE, PhD, Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, School of Medicine | Intestinal Host Defense: Toggling between immune tolerance and immune protection | ||
| LAURA E. NAGY, PhD, Staff Scientist, Department of Inflammation & Immunity, Cleveland Clinic LRI; Professor of Physiology & Biophysics, CWRU; Professor of Molecular Medicine, CCLCM-CWRU | Alcohol-induced chronic hepatitis & diabetes | ||
| PARAMESWARAN RAMKRISHNAN, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology & Biochemistry, CWRU SoM | Signal transduction in autoimmunity & immunometabolism in type-1 diabetes & inflammation-induced colon cancer | ||
| CARLOS SUBAUSTE, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases & HIV Medicine), Ophthalmology & Pathology, CWRU SoM | CD40 in immune responses to pathogens; diabetic inflammation; uses transgenic diabetic mous | ||