The Department of Pathology is thrilled to announce a new faculty member joining our team January 1. Natalie R. Gassman, Ph.D., joins the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, led by Rakesh Patel, Ph.D., as an associate professor.
Gassman joins the department from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, where she served as associate professor since 2021.
Gassman earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2008 before completing postdoctoral training at Wake Forest University, Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina. Her postdoctoral training focused on the role of DNA repair in response to environmental exposures and how modulated DNA repair machinery contributes to cancer development.
In 2015, Gassman joined the University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute as an assistant professor in oncologic sciences. In 2019, she became an assistant professor of physiology and cell biology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine while continuing to perform research within the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute.
Gassman joined UAB in 2021 as both an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology and as a scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Center for Women’s Reproductive Health. She holds an additional joint appointment as an associate professor in the UAB Department of Nutrition Sciences.
A prolific researcher, Gassman’s current focus is on characterizing the influence environmental exposures have on DNA repair and characterizing how DNA repair proteins are altered or modified in the context of cancer. She has developed a versatile detection method to locate deficiencies in repair mechanisms that give cancer cells a survival edge. Gassman is hopeful these results can be applied in a clinical setting to tailor therapies for cancer patients. She holds several active research grants, including an R01 from the National Institutes of Health for her project, titled, “Dihydroxyacetone exposure induces metabolic reprogramming and mitochondrial dysfunction.” She has authored nearly 70 publications.
Gassman is the recipient of multiple awards, including the National Alumni Association Endowed Award for Faculty Innovation from the USA National Alumni Association and the Murray Bander Faculty Development Award and Mayer Mitchell Award for Excellence in Cancer Research from the University of South Alabama. She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society and the Society of Toxicology.
An experienced mentor and educator, Gassman has directed and instructed numerous courses and mentored faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, medical students, undergraduate students and high school students.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Natalie R. Gassman to the UAB Department of Pathology.