Obesity and Related Diseases Resarch Cluster

Obesity and Related Diseases Research Cluster

In our modern era, the incidence of obesity has reached epidemic proportions, where more than 30% of American adults and 17% of children and teens are obese. In 2017, West Virginia ranked highest for obesity in the U.S. Many obese individuals suffer from related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia, leading to a decreased life span. This association of obesity with related metabolic diseases makes obesity a priority public health issue.

Coordinator:

Jung Han Kim, PhD
kimj@marshall.edu

ORDC PhD Curriculum

Required Research Cluster Courses
Course Number	Course Name	Credit Hours
PHS 666	Physiology of the Cell	3
BMR 664	Obesity and Related Diseases Colloquium (x3)	3

Qualifying Exam

Written - Syllabus suggested by the Ph.D. Committee Members.
Oral Steps
- Students must first complete a written exam.
- A written grant in the style of an NIH Pre-doctoral grant proposal format must be submitted on either the student’s research project or another topic.
- The grant must be submitted within two months of completion of the written exam.
- The Oral examination is a defense of the grant application.
Dissertation Defense

Other Activities include attending one or more national scientific meetings to present the results of their research.

ORDC MS Curriculum

Required Research Cluster Courses
Course Number	Course Name	Credit Hours
BMR 664	Obesity and Related Diseases Colloquium	1
Suggested Electives
PHS 667	Experimental Approaches to Physiology	4
PHS 666	Physiology of the Cell	4
BMR 665	Cardiovascular Disease Colloquium	1

Students will need to successfully pass their MS Comprehensive Examination and defend their thesis.

Cluster Faculty

Faculty

Research Faculty	Research Interests
Ji Bihl, PhD	Cerebrovascular Diseases and Diabetes
Alejandro Q. Nato Jr., PhD	Identification of the genetic basis of complex diseases
Jinju Wang	Exercise-intervened exosomes in cerebrovascular diseases
Subha Arthur, PhD	Regulation of bile acid absorption in obesity
Travis Salisbury, PhD	Leucine-stimulated induction of mTOR1 in breast cancer in obesity
Maria Serrat, PhD	Regulation of growth factor transport in bone elongation in childhood obesity
Jung Han Kim, PhD	Genetics of obesity and type 2 diabetes
Nalini Santanam, PhD	Diet, Exercise, obesity drugs on cardiometabolic endpoints
Emine Koc, PhD	Role of mitochondria in obesity disorders
Holly Cyphert, PhD	Molecular regulation of beta cell function
Jim Denvir, PhD	Application of multiple hypothesis testing procedures to high-throughout genomic data
Hongwei Yu, PhD	Microbiome in obesity, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease
Wei Li, MD, PhD	Role of thymidine phosphorylase in the development of chronic diseases, atherosclerotic and thrombotic cardiovascular diseases
Umapathy Sundaram, MD	Nutrition, inflammatory bowel disease