Graduate Program - Students

WonMo Ahn
PhD Candidate
wahn@augusta.edu

Mentor:  Gabor Csanyi, PhD

Research Project:  ACE2-independent internalization of SARS-CoV-2 protein in COPD

Suhib Alhusban
PhD Candidate
salhusban@augusta.edu

Mentor:  Brian Annex, MD

Research Project: Hexosamine Biosynthesis Pathway as a Potential Therapeutic Target in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease

Candee Barris
PhD Candidate
cbarris@augusta.edu

Mentor:  Eric Belin de Chantemele, PhD

Research Project: Origins of sex difference in the mechanisms of obesity-associate hypertension

Maria Blahova

PhD Student
MaBlahove@augusta.edu

Mentor: Gabor Csanyi, PhD

Zsuzsanna Bordan
PhD Candidate
zbordan@augusta.edu

Mentor:  David Fulton, PhD

 Research Project:  PDZ-Binding Kinase Drives Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscel Proliferation and Vascular Remodeling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Zach Brown
PhD Student
zabrown@augusta.edu 

Mentor: David Fulton, PhD

Jaser Doja
PhD Student
jdoja@augusta.edu

Mentor:  Joe Miano, PhD

 Research Project: Orbiting Myocardin: Finding a Viable Landing Site

Brandee Goo
MD/PhD Candidate
bgoo@augusta.edu

Mentor:  Neal Weintraub, MD 

Research focus: Aging increases inflammation and impairs the function of fat tissue. I'm interested in the processes that cause aging of our fat tissues and how they may be targeted to promote healthy aging.

Steve Haigh
PhD Candidate
shaigh@augusta.edu

Mentor:  David Fulton, PhD

Research Project:  Pulmonary Arterial hypertension, Cell Death, and Galectin 3

David Kim
MD/PhD Candidate
skim1@augusta.edu

Mentor:  Neal Weintraub, MD 

Research focus:  Heart surgeries often fail in the long term due to the proliferation of muscle cells in the vessels. I’m interested in identifying how a novel type of RNA called long non-coding RNA impacts this proliferative process.

Taylor Kress
PhD Candidate
tkress@augusta.edu

Mentor:  Eric Belin de Chantemele, PhD

Research focus:  My research is focused on HIV associated cardiovascular disease and determining how repressed viral protein expression contributes to diseases such as hypertension and atherosclerosis.

Cody Rosewater
PhD Student
cbridgewater@augusta.edu 

Mentor:  David Stepp, PhD

Hunter Sellers
PhD Candidate
hsellers@augusta.edu

Mentor:  David Fulton, PhD

Research Project:  A Model of Sustained Hyperphagia and Obesity in Mice using a Brain Targeting Adneo Associated Virus

Mitch Shivers
PhD Student
mishivers@augusta.edu 

Mentor:  David Fulton, PhD 

Andrew Speese
PhD Candidate
aspeese@augusta.edu

Mentor:  David Stepp, PhD 

Research Project; Reversing Myosteatosis, a Novel Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease in Obesity

Josue Zambrano-Carrasco
PhD Student
jzambranocarras@augusta.edu 

Mentor:  Huabo Su, PhD 

Karl Diaz-Sanders
PhD Student

kdiazsanders@augusta.edu

Mentor: Jennifer Sullivan, PhD

Research focus:  My current work focuses on sex differences in hypertension to better understand the molecular mechanisms within the immune system that regulate blood pressure in males and females under both physiological and pathophysiological conditions.