Dr. Jefferson Kinney

Jefferson Kinney, Ph.D., is the Founding Chair of the Department of Brain Health and holds the Reg Grundy and Joy Chambers-Grundy Chair for Brain Health in the Department of Brain Health, School of Integrated Health Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). He is the Director of the Pam Quirk Brain Health and Biomarker Laboratory and the Cellular and Molecular Brain Research Laboratory in the Department of Brain Health.

Jeff Kinney's research involves the investigation of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disease. Research projects in Dr. Kinney's laboratory focus on the investigation of cellular and molecular mechanisms altered in pre-clinical models of Alzheimer’s disease, with particular emphasis on neuronal and glia interactions and the investigation of novel therapeutic targets. Additional translational research projects in the laboratory extend to the evaluation of clinical patient samples for novel biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain injury. These projects are part of the Translational Biomarker Unit being built to expand biobanking and biomarker discovery at UNLV and in Nevada. 

Miranda Orr, PhD, associate professor of Neurology, is co-director of the Tracy Family Stable Isotope Labeling Quantitation (SILQ) Center. Orr came to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she was an associate professor in the Section of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. She earned a PhD in Neuroscience from Montana State University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas Health in San Antonio, where she eventually joined the faculty ranks. She has also held federal government appointments as research health scientist at South Texas Veterans Health Care System and Salisbury Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. 

Orr’s drive to study neurodegenerative diseases comes in part from losing her grandmother to Alzheimer’s as Orr was graduating from college. Since then, she has built a remarkable career in understanding mechanisms that link biological aging with neurodegeneration and developing therapeutic approaches for cellular senescence. The Orr lab uses mouse models, spatial proteogenomics and tissue mapping to examine the ways in which cellular stress response leads to a range of tauopathies. Her many publications have made valuable contributions to the field, spanning topics from imaging and bioinformatics to post-mitotic cellular senescence and senolytics.  

Suzanne Phelan, PhD, is a professor in the Kinesiology and Public Health Department and director of the Center for Health Research. Dr. Phelan is also spearheading a new program: The Cal Poly Women and Infants’ Mobile Health Unit contains a medical clinic that travels to underserved populations, providing free access to health care and opportunities for Cal Poly students to get hands-on experience in clinical research. 

Over the past decade, Phelan has secured National Institutes of Health funding of more than $12 million. Her research focuses on weight loss in low-income, postpartum mothers. Other research projects include gestational diabetes prevention, a couples-based approaches to weight management during pregnancy, understanding maternal and toddler feeding interactions, and identifying strategies among long-term weight loss maintainers.

MegAnne Casey is vice president of the McLaughlin Research Institute; Weissman Hood Institute at Touro University and is Chair of the Internal Advisory Committee. This committee is responsible for overseeing day to day financial management, logistics and interactions between the Insitute, School and Hospitals/Clinics.

Rose is a Montana native who grew up in Central Montana and attended Carroll College in Helena earning a B.A. in Biology. A career with animals that wove through veterinary technician positions and a laboratory Research Assistant position at the McLaughlin Research Institute culminated in the appointment of Rose as the Director of Institute’s Animal Resource Center (ARC), in October 2021. Rose is continually focused on service to the research community while maintaining outstanding animal health and welfare. She strives to create an ARC that is animal-centered and provides calm, healthy, genetically-sound rodent models for human diseases. The ARC is a source of pride in the care of the facility, animals and provision of expert animal services.

Dr. S. Diane Lund is the Associate Chair of Basic Sciences and Professor of Developmental Biology at TouroCOM Montana in Great Falls, MT. She is also the Course Director for Medical Biochemistry and Medical Genetics. Dr. Lund received her BA in Biology from Carroll College (MT) and her PhD in Developmental Biology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. After three research stents in the areas of steroid hormone gene regulation, lipid transport, and neurodegenerative disease, she has spent the last 30 years teaching in the Basic and Health Sciences. Besides teaching, Dr. Lund has also been immersed in faculty, curriculum, program, and institutional assessment.