Anchored by the nation’s fastest-rising public urban-research university, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine continues its drive to recruit leading, federally-funded scientists committed to translating ideas from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside. Here are some of the college’s recent strategic research hires and promotions:
Strategic Research Hires: 2020-21
Ashutosh Dharap, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine
USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute
Before USF: HackensackMeridian Health, JFK Medical Center, Edison, NJ
Expertise: Regulation of gene expression and pathophysiology by noncoding RNAs in cerebral ischemia; ischemic stroke; epigenetics; miRNA; lncRNA; RNA-protein interactions; transcriptomics.
Jose Herazo-Maya, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine (USF Health Heart Institute)
Associate Division Chief of USF Health Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; NCH Healthcare System, Naples, FL
Expertise: Inflammatory and fibrotic disorders of lung tissue; gene profiles in blood as predictors of outcomes in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19; precision medicine.
Alexander Staruschenko, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology
Director, Hypertension and Kidney Research Center
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
Expertise: Water and electrolyte homeostasis in the kidney; role of renal ion channels in the control of kidney function and blood pressure; hypertension; chronic kidney disease; diabetic nephropathy.
Zhigao Wang, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine (Cardiovascular Sciences), USF Health Heart Institute
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Expertise: Molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death pathways; development of compounds to help treat necroptosis-related inflammatory diseases, including cardiac disease/defects, infections, ischemia injury, neurodegeneration, and cancers.
Hariom Yadav, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair
Director, USF Center for Microbiome Research
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Expertise: Role of microbiome and gut leakiness in age-related disorders by influencing gut-brain axis; development of microbial therapies, including probiotics, postbiotics, fermented foods, and modified diets to improve cognitive decline and age-related disorders; using cutting-edge concepts, technologies and models, and translating them to human use.
Yao Yao, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, USF Health Heart Institute
USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Before USF: University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, Athens, GA
Expertise: Blood-brain barrier, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, laminin biology, extracellular matrix.
Strategic Research Promotions: 2020-21
Clifton Gooch, MD
Newly appointed Co-Vice President of Clinical Trials and Translational Research, USF Health and Tampa General Hospital
Professor and Chair, Department of Neurology, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
Tampa General Hospital Endowed Chair in Neurology
Before USF: Columbia University, NYC
Expertise: Clinical/translational research and therapeutics in neuromuscular, neurodegenerative and neuroimmunological diseases; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); electrophysiology; policy affecting academic neurology at the local, state and national levels.
Gopal Thinakaran, PhD
Newly appointed CEO, USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute
Professor of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine
Eric Pfeiffer Endowed Chair in Alzheimer’s Research
Associate Dean for Neuroscience Research
Before USF: University of Chicago
Expertise: Alzheimer’s disease — cellular and molecular biology of the disease; molecular pathology; preclinical models; advanced microscopy; translating discoveries to promote therapeutic strategies.
