Audrey Vasauskas, PhD

Audrey A. Vasauskas, PhD, serves as Director of Research & Grant Development and Associate Professor of Physiology. Dr. Vasauskas obtained her Bachelor of Science in biology from Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland. She earned her PhD and completed post-doctoral training from the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. Dr. Vasauskas has been the recipient of several extramural research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. She has also served as a science policy and research advocate to the United States Congress. Dr. Vasauskas has been teaching cell and system physiology for over a decade and has mentored many undergraduate, graduate and medical students both in academia and industry. Prior to her career in academia, she spent several years in the biotechnology industry as project leader for oncology diagnostic development. During her time at ACOM, she has served as Research Committee chair and principal investigator. Dr. Vasauskas’s current research includes the molecular changes that occur within endothelial cells in the pathology known as pulmonary arterial hypertension. Specifically, her NIH-funded research investigates potential players in endothelial to mesenchymal transition, or the process by which endothelial cells transition to a smooth muscle, constrictive phenotype.