2026 Midwest C. elegans Meeting

Arjumand Ghazi, Ph.D., is a tenured Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Cell Biology & Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSOM) and Co-Director of the Genetics, Genomics and Development Center (G3C). Her research focuses on the genetics of aging, particularly genes and pathways linking reproductive fitness to lifespan and healthspan. Her lab has made foundational discoveries in aging biology, including demonstrations that reproductive dysfunction triggers whole-body aging and that pro-longevity genes can contextually impair healthspan. She is a recipient of an Academic Leadership Award from the NIA to establish the Pittsburgh Pipeline for Research, Education & Mentoring in Reproductive Aging (Pitt-PRAM). Her work has been funded by the NIH, Ellison Medical Foundation, AFAR, and is currently supported by awards from the NIAID, NIA and the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity & Equity.

Besides research, Dr. Ghazi is deeply committed to graduate education and junior faculty mentoring. She serves as an Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies at UPSOM and is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators.

Dr. Nick Burton explores how our environment, especially microbes, can impact our health and the health of our offspring — even before they are born. His research has extensive implications for understanding how epigenetics contributes to human disease and how the environment we are exposed to today affects not only our own health, but also our children’s.

Dr. Maulik Patel studies how cells handle, store and expend energy, with a focus on how this intricate process, connected with metabolism and nutrition, interacts with other systems to influence health, disease and aging. His research centers on cellular “powerhouses” called mitochondria, which support day-to-day function and, when faulty, contribute to rare, devastating diseases in children and common degenerative conditions in aging adults.

Dr. Andrea Scharf specialized in the study of aging as a life history trait and its impact on population dynamics. Her lab integrates cellular, organismal, and population-level biology to uncover the mechanisms driving life history traits like aging, with a focus on (1) the impact of aging on population dynamics, (2) premature aging induced by environmental factors, and (3) inter-individual communication of environmental effects within populations.