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2024 Faculty Speakers

Dementia/Alzheimer’s

Gwenn Garden, MD, PhD

Dr. Garden is the H. Houston Merritt Distinguished Professor of Memory and Cognitive Disorders and the chair of the Department of Neurology at UNC School of Medicine. She is also the Co-director at the Duke-UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She obtained her MD and PhD at the University of Washington School of Medicine and completed her residency training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Dr. Garden is a board-certified neurologist whose research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease with the hope of uncovering the molecular mechanisms that lead to the progression of these diseases. Dr. Garden’s Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research includes studies of the regulation of the inflammatory response in AD, as well as pathogenic molecular cascades contributing to neuronal degeneration in AD. She aims to collaborate with other researchers to translate her laboratory findings into the setting of research using human tissues, human stem cells, human serum and CSF samples, and potentially human patients.

 

 


Outdoor Health

Scott Commins, MD, PhD

Dr. Commins is the William J. Yount Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief for Allergy & Immunology in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology at UNC School of Medicine. He is also the Medical Director of the UNC Allergy & Immunology Clinic at Eastowne. He both sees patients in the UNC allergy clinic and maintains an active research laboratory. His primary research and clinical interest is alpha-gal syndrome (“red meat allergy”). This unique food allergy appears to be brought on by tick bites and can develop at any time throughout life, even after many years of enjoying beef, pork or lamb. Patients develop an allergic response to the sugar alpha-gal and the resulting allergic reactions are often delayed 3-6 hours after eating mammalian meat. Dr. Commins often sees patients in the allergy clinic with difficult-to-diagnose food allergies or allergic reactions. In his research laboratory, the primary question being investigated is the role of the skin and resident cells, including mast cells and basophils, in allergic immune responses. Dr. Commins completed his MD and PhD at the Medical University of South Carolina, followed by residency and fellowship training at the University of Virginia.


Weight Loss/Diabetes

Klara Klein, MD, PhD

Dr. Klein joined UNC Endocrine faculty in July 2022. With training in both basic science and clinical trials, she is passionate about bringing researchers from different fields, including clinicians, basic scientists, and pharmaceutical companies together to advance diabetes care in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. With the very experienced UNC Diabetes Clinical Trials Unit, she has been a co-investigator on several major clinical trials. Dr. Klein and collaborators recently published that a novel oral glucokinase activator improves glucose control in type 1 diabetes, and they will soon publish a mechanistic study investigating how this drug impacts ketoacidosis in type 1 diabetes. As a faculty member, she will initiate a new project at the intersection of diabetes care and advanced kidney disease. Her research team explores diabetes care in dialysis-dependent kidney disease. Dr. Klein completed her MD and PhD (in Cellular and Molecular Physiology), as well as residency and fellowship, at UNC.

 

 


Sudden Cardiac Death

Ross Simpson, Jr., MD, PhD

Dr. Simpson is a Professor of Medicine at the Division of Cardiology at UNC School of Medicine. Dr. Simpson’s clinical interests include preventive cardiology and cholesterol management. As a world-class medical lecturer and collaborator towards improving cardiovascular health, Dr. Simpson is regularly invited to present his clinical work and research studies at medical conferences across the globe. His research interests include an emphasis on population and individual-focused intervention to prevent heart attacks, sudden death, and strokes. He has been instrumental in growing the SUDDEN Study at UNC, which is researching sudden unexpected death across the United States. Dr. Simpson completed medical school and residency at Georgetown University followed by a cardiology fellowship at the University of Illinois.


Ultrasound

Kristin Olinger, MD

Dr. Olinger is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Radiology and Chief of Abdomen Imaging in the Department of Radiology at UNC School of Medicine. She completed medical school at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and Diagnostic Radiology residency training at UCLA Health. Subsequently, she completed her Abdominal Imaging Fellowship at UNC. Dr. Olinger became a doctor to combine her love of science, desire to provide compassionate care for patients, and opportunity for continued learning.

 

 

 

 

 


2023 Faculty Speakers

2022 Faculty Speakers

2021 Faculty Speakers

2020 Faculty Speakers