FACULTY
Kelly Jean Sherman, PhD
Assistant Professor - Research
Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Experimental Therapeutics
- ksherm@lsuhsc.edu
- Medicine
Academic Office:
LSUHSC School of Medicine
Department of Pharmacology
CSRB 533 Bolivar Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Bio & Programs
Dr. Sherman has a broad background in pharmacology with specific training in neuropharmacology and cancer biology. I integrate my training in teaching pedagogy and research experience to develop curriculum that delivers evidence-based teaching methods to work towards improving STEM education from middle school up to graduate level.
Programs
HIGH SCHOOL STEM INTERNSHIP
Dr. Sherman is the Principal Investigator for Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation
grant to support STEM internship opportunities for high school students. Dr. Sherman
is also the Co-Director for the Summer Intern program which has been funded by this
grant, other NSF grants with Dr. Fern Tsien and the LSUHSC School of Medicine. Summer
students work full time for eight weeks in the research lab learning lab techniques,
conducting research and experiments, then presenting their research project. Since
Summer 2021, Dr. Sherman has mentored many students and provided funding for students
in other labs through her efforts. For the capstone exhibit of posters, each high
school student presents their research along with undergraduates and medical students.
Students are exposed to STEM opportunities to encourage their pursuit in a STEM career.
Program Photos
2026 Greater New Orleans Science and Engineering Fair at Tulane University
Alexis Gray placed 3rd in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Senior
Division for her project
In Vitro Comparison of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma HPV-positive and HPV-negative
Invasiveness and Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Isoforms Expression
Students working in lab
2025 Summer Interns
Collaboration of ideas
2025 Summer Interns
Elise Celestin's experiment
2025 Summer Intern
Elise and Andrew at workstations
2025 Summer Interns
2024 Summer Research Program Symposium
Oren Bognar
2024 Summer Poster
Alexis Gray with Dr. Sherman
2024 Summer Poster
Dr. Sherman with Samari Harris
2024 Summer Poster
Alexis Gray in Lab
2024 Summer Intern
2024 Summer Research Program Symposium
High School STudent Interns
2025-2026 BIORETS Teachers in Collaboration
Mathematics High School Mary Phililips
Mandeville High School Marla Taylor
Mount Carmel Academy
2024-2025 BIORETS Teachers in Collaboration
Christ Episcopal
Metairie Park Country Day School
St Mary’s Dominican High School
Warren Easton Charter High School
Mandeville High School
REU: Research Experiences for Undergraduates in the Basic Sciences, Genomics and Neuroscience
PI: Dr. Fern Tsien Co-PI: Dr. Kelly Jean Sherman Co-Investigator: Dr. Hamilton
Farris
Dr. Sherman is the Co-Director and Co-Principal of the REU: Research Experiences for
Undergradudates in Basic Sciences, Genomics ad Neuroscience. LSUHSC New Orleans is
funded through a grant with the National Science Foundation to provide a 10-week research
experience to undergraduate students interested in a career in biological sciences.
Students are provided training by LSUHSC faculty in designing and conducting experiments,
analyzing the results and presenting those results.
Education
PhD Pharmacology Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans
BS Biology University of New Orleans
Internship News
Inside the Internship: A Summer of Impact at LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center
Science Teacher Janine Koenig in Summer Research Labs at LSU
Publications
Scahill, Steven D., Kelly Jean Sherman, and Dennis Paul. 2026. "Inflammatory Co-Regulation of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels and Na,K-ATPase in Metastatic Breast Cancer" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 27, no. 1: 424. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27010424
Mary Moore, Martha Cuccia, Alicia Edwards, Chindo Hicks, Angela Mclean, Christian Nieves-Rivera, Gabrielle Sheets, Kelly J. Sherman, Allison Augustus-Wallace, Fern Tsien. “How can academic health science centers help to increase diversity in the STEM professions?”, Frontiers in Education, 24, March 2024 Sec. Language, Culture and Diversity Volume 9- 2024 https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1357946
Steven D. Scahill, Kelly Jean Sherman, Jessie Guidry, Whitney Walkowski, Theresa Nguyen Durwood Ray, David Jones, Harry J. Gould III, Dennis Paul.” In vitro Characterization of a Novel Murine Model of Cancerous Progression”, Advances in Cancer Biology – Metastasis, Vol. 7, 3 May 2023, 100101 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adcanc.2023.100101
Gould, H.J. 3rd, Miller, P.R., Edenfield. S., Sherman, K.J., Brady, C.K., Paul, D. 2021 Emergency use of targeted osmotic lysis for the treatment of a patient with aggressive, late-stage squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. Curr. Oncol, 28:2115-2122, 2021
Paul, D., Maggi, P., del Piero, F., Scahill, S.D., Sherman, K.J., Edenfield, S., and Gould, H.J., III 2020 Targeted osmotic lysis of highly invasive breast carcinomas using a pulsed magnetic field and pharmacological blockade of voltage-gated sodium channels. Cancers 12: 1420, doi: 10.3390/cancers12061420.
Nichols, C.D., and Sherman, K.J. 2015 Visualization of the Serotonin System in Drosophila Brain: Immunofluorescence and Confocal Microscopy, Chapter 10 Serotonin Receptor Technologies, Neuromethods, vol. 95, pages 199-203, Wolfgang Blenau and Arnd Baumann, ed. ISSN 0893-2336 ISSN 1940-6045 (electronic) ISBN 978-1-4939-2186-7 ISBN 978-1-4939-2187-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-2187-4 Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2014956751 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4939-2187-4
NCBI My Bibliography https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1v_Ulzo2DzMgc0/bibliography/public/
Research
Dr. Sherman AACR April 2026
"Defining Sodium Channel Isoforms in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Vitro"
Image Title 2
The image is on the Right side, while the title and caption will be on the left side.
Dr. Sherman's research experience consists of 1.) Cancer biology research with a focus on tumor microenvironment, and the role of inflammation and voltage-gated channels in metastasis. 2.) Educational research focuses on evaluating learning outcomes of various academic levels, while enhancing community engagement with the institution. Dr. Sherman's current laboratory research consists of investigating the expression and regulation of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) in cancer. Recent studies include how inflammatory mediators modulate VGSC’s subtypes expression patterns in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Dr. Sherman has developed and implemented training programs for K-12 students, high school teachers, undergraduates and graduate students. In 2021, Dr. Sherman was awarded funding from The Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation for a high school internship science training program.
Dr. Sherman AACR April 2026
"Defining Sodium Channel Isoforms in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Vitro"