Career Development Program Members

Mikus Abolins-Abols, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Mikus Abolins-Abols studies the physiological mechanisms that underlie stress response in wild birds. Abolins-Abols is particularly interested in how urban environment affects the health, stress and reproductive function of native songbirds, and whether wild species can serve as bioindicators for urban pollution exposure. Other study interests are the cellular and genetic mechanisms that underlie feather color diversity and neural mechanisms that underlie behavioral diversity.

Mayukh Banerjee, PhD  
CIEHS Executive Committee 4/1/25-3/31/26
CIEHS Internal Advisory Committee 4/1/23-3/31/24
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology
The Banerjee lab studies how chronic environmental exposures, especially to arsenic, cause diseases. Over 225 million people worldwide are environmentally exposed to arsenic, which leads to cancerous and non-cancerous health problems across many organs and stages of life. Unlike most toxins, arsenic does not bind DNA or RNA. Thus, the Banerjee lab focuses on how arsenic physically interacts with zinc finger proteins - key regulators of many vital cellular processes ushering in diseases. We aim to uncover how arsenic alters the transcriptome, epitranscriptome, proteome, and degradome, contributing to widespread toxicity and carcinogenesis. We are also interested in understanding how dietary zinc insufficiency increases the risk of developing cancerous and non-cancerous diseases from environmental arsenic exposure. To investigate these mechanisms, we harness cell culture, animal models, and state-of-the-art molecular, biophysical, and omics techniques.

Alex Carll, PhD 
Associate Professor
Department of Physiology
Alex Carll's research evaluates the impacts of multiple inhaled toxins (traffic-related, printer-derived, and ambient particulate matter, as well as volatile organic compounds and e-cigarette aerosols) on cardiac electrical activity, mechanical performance, and neural regulation, and the mechanisms by which they occur.

Natasha DeJarnett, PhD, MPH 
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine, Division of Environmental Medicine
Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute
Natasha DeJarnett (she/her) has research interests including the cardiovascular health burden of extreme heat exposure, air quality, and environmental health disparities. In addition, DeJarnett is passionate about environmental health research that informs policies, empowering communities through research engagement and advancing environmental health.

Natalie DuPré, ScD, MS 
Associate Professor
Department of Epidemiology and Population Health
Natalie DuPré is a cancer and environmental epidemiologist who investigates the role of environmental factors that influence carcinogenesis and cancer progression in humans. DuPré's particular research interests are in exposures to ambient pollutants, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, radon and environmental chemicals that may drive breast cancer and colorectal cancer outcomes, especially in Kentuckians.

Frederick Ekuban, PhD 
CIEHS Internal Advisory Committee 4/1/25-3/31/26
NIGMS-LCTRC Presidential Research Scholar
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine
Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition
Frederick Ekuban's research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which environmental pollutants, particularly per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), interact with lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption to influence liver disease progression. Using integrative approaches that combine mechanistic toxicology, genomics and translational models, his work aims to uncover how these exposures contribute to the pathogenesis of liver disease and to identify potential targets for intervention. His long-term goal is to develop evidence-based interventions and biomarkers for environmental health protection, bridging fundamental toxicological research with clinical applications.

Luz Huntington-Moskos, PhD, RN, CPN, FAAN  
Associate Professor
School of Nursing
My program of research is focused on adolescent health and the interplay among health behaviors, environmental exposures, and genomics. Using biobehavioral methods and environmental home testing, my long-term goal is to develop an independent program of research focused on the implementation of report-back strategies with adolescents to prevent asthma exacerbations and support asthma self-management.

Venkatakrishna Jala, PhD 
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Venkatakrishna Jala has interest research in understanding the role of Gut microbiota and Microbial Metabolites in regulating inflammation and gut function in gastro-intestinal related disorders. 

Jared Scott, PhD 
Assistant Professor 
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology 
Jared L. Scott is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology. His research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer progression and developing novel anti-cancer therapeutics. Jared works closely with J. C. States’ lab to investigate how microRNA dysregulation drives arsenic induced skin cancer. His interdisciplinary research interests include heavy metal toxicity, phytochemical analysis, natural product chemotherapeutics, nanoparticle drug delivery, microRNA dysregulation, alternative mRNA splicing, DNA repair, and chromosomal stability.

Banrida Wahlang, PhD 
CIEHS Executive Committee 4/1/24-3/31/25
CIEHS Internal Advisory Committee 4/1/22-3/31/23
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Banrida Wahlang specializes in environmental health research; her current work focuses on understanding how environmental toxicants such as organochlorine pesticides impact metabolic health, with emphasis on sex differences.

Bert Watson, PhD 
Associate Professor
Department of Medicine and Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Walter Watson's research interest consists of oxidative stress and redox signaling, alcoholic liver disease, role of environmental agents in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Ray Yeager, PhD 
CIEHS Internal Advisory Committee 4/1/26-3/31/27
CIEHS Executive Committee 4/1/23-3/31/24
Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Ray Yeager is a health geographer focused on research needed for building healthier urban environments. He studies how biodiversity and climate change interact to influence cardiometabolic health with a focus on developing evidence needed to build healthier environments.

Mariam Zaky, PhD 
Postdoctoral Fellow 
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology 
Mariam Habil is a postdoctoral fellow in David Hein's lab. She earned her PhD in 2022 and her research focus is to investigate the effect of N-acetyltransferases on metabolism and toxicity associated with different xenobiotics including drugs, carcinogens and environmental toxins. 

Easton Ford, PhD 
Postdoctoral Fellow 
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics 
Easton Ford is a postdoctoral fellow in Melissa Smith’s lab. 

Jin Y. Chen, PhD 
Postdoctoral Fellow 
Envirome Institute and Superfund Research Center 
School of Medicine 
Jin Chen specializes in using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques to measure known and discover novel urinary metabolites (e.g., mercapturates, glucuronides, and sulfates) for assessing exposure to environmental compounds from sources such as cigarette smoke, wildfire, pharmaceuticals, and food. Jin is a postdoctoral fellow in Sanjay Srivastava's lab and works in the Mass Spectrometry Core.

Alexandra Nail, PhD  
CIEHS Executive Committee 4/1/26-3/31/27
CIEHS Internal Advisory Committee 4/1/24-3/31/25
Postdoctoral Fellow States Laboratory
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology
Alexandra Nail's research focuses on determining how exposure to heavy metals disrupts the DNA damage response in eukaryotic cells. Specifically, she is exploring how chronic arsenic or cadmium exposure disrupts DNA repair responses and how disruption of these systems leads to the generation of fusion genes that drive heavy metal-induced cancers.

Belinda Petri, PhD 
Postdoctoral Fellow 
KY INBRE Bioinformatics Core 
School of Medicine 
Belinda Petri is currently a postdoctoral fellow with Eric Rouchka. Her research interests involve investigating toxicant effects on epitranscriptomic regulation using long-read sequencing technologies and applied Artificial Intelligence. Petri’s focus is on using bioinformatics to decode m6A (N6-methyladenosine) modifications, which are pivotal in regulating gene expression, mRNA stability, and translation. Her work provides the computational framework necessary to understand how these modifications drive complex diseases, including oncology and liver disease.

Gabriel Rodriguez Vazquez, PhD 
Postdoctoral Fellow 
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology 
Gabriel Rodriguez Vazquez is a postdoctoral fellow in J. Christopher States’ lab.