Our Current Graduate Students
Graduate students admitted to the Department of Physiology are committed to becoming independent thinkers and highly successful collaborative scientists. With our team-based mentoring approach, many of our students successfully earn their own prestigious fellowships as well as travel awards to present their work at major national and international conferences where they can interact with other top scientists and explore future job prospects. Our students are highly competitive for the next stage of their careers because our faculty are committed to delivering top-notch training and highly personalized mentoring and networking opportunities.
Evan Dore, BS
Degree: BS, Louisiana State University
Mentor: Rajani Maiya, PhD
Focus: Identifying transcriptional changes in the brain that drive stress-escalated alcohol
consumption and using machine learning to link behavior with stress and alcohol use
Status: PhD Student
edore@lsuhsc.edu
Kyle Gallegos, MS
Degree: MS, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
Mentor: Sydney Vita, PhD
Focus: Combined effects of repeated mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Binge-Like alcohol exposure
during adolescence on neural pathology.
Status: PhD Student
Kgall2@lsuhsc.edu
Kaitlin Couvillion, BS
Degree: BS, Louisiana State University
Mentor: Liz Simon, PhD
Status: MD/PhD Student
Email: kcouv1@lsuhsc.edu
Meagan Donovan, BS
Degree: BS, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Mentor: Janos Paloczi, PhD
Focus: Potential therapeutics to target the mitochondrial changes that occure in cardiomyocytes
following alcohol exposure.
Status: PhD Student
E-mail: mdono2@lsuhsc.edu
Eden Gallegos, BS
Degree: BS, Louisiana State University
Mentor: Liz Simon, MVSc, PhD
Focus: Mitochondrial mechanisms of alcohol-mediated hepatic lipid accumulation in the context
of a high fat, high sucrose diet
Status: MD/PhD Student
E-mail: egall1@lsuhsc.edu
Nicholas Harris, BSE
Degree: BSE, Tulane University
Mentor: Jason Gardner, PhD
Focus: Mechanism of alcohol-induced cardiac inflammation
Status: MD/PhD STudent
E-mail: nharr8@lsuhsc.edu
Sumin (Stephanie) Lee, BS
Degree: BS, Emory University
Mentor: Scott Edwards, PhD
Focus: Endocannabinoid system contributions to chronic pain and AUD
Status: MD/PhD Student
E-mail: slee21@lsuhsc.edu
Graduates
2025
Joshua Edavettal, PhD
Degree: BS, Louisiana Tech University
MS, Tulane University
Mentor: Jason Gardner, PhD
Focus: Cardiac physiology in relation to ethanol and nicotine
2025
Taylor Fitzpatrick-Schmidt, PhD
Degree: BS, Tulane University
Mentor: Scott Edwards, PhD
Focus: Interaction of alcohol and pain in the context of HIV
2025
Kourtney Weaver, PhD
Degree: BS, University of New Orleans
Mentor: Flavia Souza-Smith, PhD
Focus: Immunometabolic Effects of Alcohol-Induced Mesenteric Lymphatic Dyshomeostasis
2023
Brianna Bourgeois, PhD
Degree: BS, Louisiana State University
Mentor: Liz Simon, MVSc, PhD
Focus:Epigenomic mechanisms of chronic alcohol-mediated impaired insulin sensitivity
2023
Taylor Templeton, PhD
Degree: BS, University of California, Santa Barbara
Mentor: Nicholas Gilpin, PhD
Focus: Investigating the role of central amygdala corticotropin releasing factor on stress-induced
cocaine self-administration
2023
Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, PhD
Degree: BA, University of Mississippi
Mentor: Scott Edwards, PhD
Focus: Regulation of chronic inflammatory pain by alcohol and endocannabinoids in the basolateral
amygdala
2023
Jonquil M. Poret, PhD
Degree: MS, LSUHSC New Orleans
BS, Xavier University of Louisiana
Mentor: Patricia Molina, MD, PhD
Focus: Alcohol-induced metabolic dysfunction in adipose tissue of SIV-infected Rhesus macaques
2023
Anna K. Whitehead, MS
Degree: MS, Louisiana Tech University
BS, Louisiana Tech University
Mentor: Xinping Yue, MD, PhD
Focus: Impact of chronic nicotine inhalation on the development of lung diseases and associated
molecular mechanisms
2022
Nicholas D. Fried, PhD
Degree: BS, University of Maine
Mentor: Jason Gardner, PhD
Focus: Cardiac consequences of vaporized nicotine exposure
2022
Nathan Sharfman, PhD
Degree: BS, Rhodes College
MS, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Mentor: Nicholas Gilpin, PhD
Focus:Neuroinflammatory role and cannabinoid role of descending pain pathways in Alcohol
Use Disorder
2022
Chelsea Duplantis, MS
Degree: BS, University of New Orleans
Mentor: Rajani Maiya, PhD
Focus: Investigating the role of kappa opioid receptors in stress-induced escalation of
alcohol consumption
2021
Krystal Courtney D. Belmonte, PhD
Degree: BS, University of Nevada
Mentor: Jeffrey Gidday, PhD
Focus: Transgenerational epigenetics in neuroprotection
2020
Zachary Stielper, PhD
Degree: BS, Centenary College of Louisiana
Mentors: Nick Gilpin, PhD & Patricia Molina, MD, PhD
Focus: TBI and alcohol effects on amygdalar endocannabinoids
2020
Matthew Herrera, PMS
Degree: BS, Louisiana State University
Mentor: Flavia Souza-Smith, PhD
Focus: The mechanism of alcohol-induced lymphatic vessel leakage
2019
M. Adrienne McGinn, PhD
Degree: BS, University of New Orleans
Mentor: Scott Edwards, Ph.D.
Focus: Role of neuronal stress signaling in chronic pain and drug addiction
2019
Katherine (Katie) A. Adler, MAT
Degree: BA University of California, Berkeley MAT University of Southern California
Mentor: Liz Simon, MVSc, PhD
Focus: The effects of alcohol on skeletal muscle stem cell differentiation in SIV-infected
rhesus macaques
2019
Van Ninh, PhD
Degree: PhD Physiology LSUHSC
BS Louisiana State University
Mentor: Jason Gardner, PhD
Focus: Effects of lysyl oxidase on cardiac fibrosis
2018
Elia El Hajj, PhD
Degree: PhD, Physiology, LSUHSC
BS, Loyola University of New Orleans
MS, Biomedical Sciences, LSUHSC
Mentor: Jason Gardner, PhD
Focus: The effect of lysyl oxidase inhibition on volume overload-induced ECM remodeling,
agniogenesis and apoptosis.
2018
Darryl A. Gaudet Jr., MS
Degree: MS, Physiology, LSUHSC
BS, Louisiana State University Baton Rouge
Mentor: Stefany Primeaux, PhD
Focus: Fat taste receptors and reward pathways affected by binge eating behavior
2018
Allyson Schreiber, BS
Degree: PhD, Physiology, LSUHSC
BS, Louisiana State University Baton Rouge
Mentor: Nicholas Gilpin, Ph.D.
Focus: Prefrontal Cortex Stress Peptides in Traumatic Stress and Alcohol Drinking
2017
Alicia N. Ray-Botello, MS. MPH
Degree: BA, Maryville College 2010
MPH, LSUHSC-NO School of Public Health 2014
Mentor: Nicholas Gilpin, Ph.D.
Focus: Neuroendocrine signaling in context of acute stress-induced alcohol craving
2017
P. Domonique Smith, MS
Degree: BS, Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Mentor: Robert Siggins, Ph.D.
Focus: Role of chronic alcohol drinking on DNA methylation
2017
Rod I. Paulsen, MS
Degree: B.S., New York University
Mentor: Scott Edwards, Ph.D.
Focus: Prefrontal Cortex neuroadaptations in the context of pain and drug addiction
2017
Stephen Ford, PhD
Degree: Ph.D. 2017 LSUHSC Physiology
Mentor: Liz Simon, Ph.D.
Focus:The effects of chronic alcohol exposure on muscle wasting and insulin resistance in
SIV-infected Rhesus macaques.
2017
John Maxi, PhD
Degree: Ph.D. 2017 LSUHSC Physiology
Mentor: Patricia Molina, M.D., Ph.D.
Focus: Interaction of alcohol & cannabinoids on neuroinflammation in Rhesus macaques; Acute
alcohol effect on TBI outcomes
2017
Alan Mouton, PhD
Degree: Ph.D. 2017 LSUHSC Physiology
Mentor: Jason D. Gardner, Ph.D.
Focus: Mechanisms of Alcohol-Induced Cardiac Fibrosis
2016
Jacques Mayeux, PhD
Degree: PhD, LSUHSC - NO Physiology
Mentor: Patricia Molina, M.D., Ph.D.
Focus: Neurobehavioral Mechanisms Underlying Escalated Alcohol Drinking Following Traumatic
Brain Injury
2015
Travis Doggett, PhD
Degree: PhD
Mentor: Jerome Breslin, Ph.D.
Focus: Molecular Mechanisms Involved in Acute Alcohol Intoxication-Induced Microvascular
Hyperpermeability
2014
Xu Sophie Teng, PhD
Degree: PhD, LSUHSC - NO Physiology
Mentor: Patricia E Molina, M.D. , Ph.D.
Focus: Traumatic Brain Injury and Alcohol: Neuropathological Mechanisms of Impaired Recovery
2013
Jessica Bradley, PhD
Degree: PhD, LSUHSC - NO Physiology
Mentor: Jason D. Gardner, Ph.D.
Focus: The effects of particulate matter inhalation on ventricular remodeling and dysfunction
in response to cardiac injury.
2013
Kristine Kurtz, PhD
Degree: PhD, LSUHSC - NO Physiology
Mentor: Jerome Breslin, Ph.D.
Focus: Evaluating the signaling mechanisms responsible for the tonic and phasic contractions
of collecting lymphatic vessels.
2012
Annie M. Whitaker, PhD
Degree: PhD, LSUHSC - NO Physiology
Mentors: Patricia E. Molina, M.D., Ph.D.
Focus: Alcohol and Shock: Mechanisms of Impaired Vasopressin Release
2013
John Nicholas Melvan, MD, PhD
Degree: PhD, LSUHSC - NO Physiology
M.D. LSUHSC - NO
Mentors: Ping Zhang, M.D. /Ph.D. and Gregory Bagby, Ph.D.
Focus: Acute alcohol suppression of granulopoiesis
2013
Jesse Sulzer, MD, PhD
Degree: PhD, LSUHSC - NO Physiology
M.D. LSUHSC - NO
Mentor: Patricia Molina M.D., Ph.D.
Focus: Alternative resuscitation strategies for the intoxicated trauma victim
