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Ley will serve as the co-director of the Immunology Center of Georgia. Ley is currently a professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and an adjunct professor of bioengineering at the University of California San Diego. The Ley laboratory utilizes single-cell technologies (scRNA-Seq with CITE-Seq) in combination with high-resolution optical imaging (TIRF, STORM and multiphoton) to profile immune cell populations during cardiovascular disease in both human samples and animal models. Ley is a fellow of the American Heart Association and he has previously served as president of the North American Vascular Biology Organization. He has also received the 2008 Bonazinga Award, the 2010 Malpighi award, the 2017 Landis award and the 2020 Pioneers in Cardiology Award. Ley currently serves on the editorial boards of Circulation Research, The Journal of Clinical Investigation and The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

envelope icon  kley@augusta.edu 

Hedrick will serve as both the co-director of the Immunology Center of Georgia and the director of the Cancer Immunology, Inflammation and Tolerance (CIIT) Program of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University. Hedrick has been a professor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology since 2009.Her research focuses on innate myeloid cell interactions in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Specifically, her laboratory employs mass cytometry and CITE-Seq to determine how myeloid cells regulate immune responses to both cancer and atherosclerosis. Her work has uncovered specific subsets of monocytes as contributors to the progression of atherosclerosis and responsiveness to anti-tumoral immunotherapy. Hedrick has received the Hoeg Award for Basic and Clinical Research in Cardiovascular Disease and a Vascular Biology Award from the American Heart Association, as well as recent recognition as a world expert in monocytes from Expertscape. Hedrick has trained multiple researchers during her career and is a recipient of the American Heart Association Mentoring Award.

envelope icon  lhedrick@augusta.edu