by Hannah Buckelew

On October 1, 2022, the Department of Pathology welcomes two new members to the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, directed by Ralph Sanderson, Ph.D.

Ming He, M.D., Ph.D., joins the department as assistant professor from the University of California, San Diego, where he served as an Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology.

He received his medical degree in clinical medicine and Ph.D. in internal medicine from Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China, before working as a Resident Physician at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiao Tong University. He joined the University of California in San Diego’s Department of Medicine in 2014 as a Postdoctoral Scholar and became Project Scientist in 2019.

He’s current research is focused on atherosclerosis, both epitranscriptomic changes in endothelium aggravate atherosclerosis and aging-accelerated atherosclerosis. In 2018, He won the Best of American Heart Association (AHA) Specialty Conferences Award. He holds membership in the AHA along with the International Atherosclerosis Society, Asian Society for Vascular Biology, and Japan Atherosclerosis Society, and has authored a number of publications and book chapters.

Camilla Bell, M.Sc., Ph.D., joins the department as assistant professor from UAB’s Gaggar Laboratory in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care, where she served as postdoctoral trainee.

Bell received her masters of science in Immunology and Oncology at the University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, before earning her Ph.D. in Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis from Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 2019. She worked in Emory University’s Tirouvanziam Laboratory from 2015-2019 studying how neutrophil plasticity enables the development of pathological microenvironments and its implications for cystic fibrosis.

Bell’s research is focused on understanding the regulation of the behavior and function of inflammatory cells in chronic and acute mucosal inflammation. In particular, the interplay between the innate and adaptive immune system at the pathological level remains poorly understood, offering novel opportunities to exploit new findings toward developing improved immunotherapies.

In 2019, Bell won UAB’s Postdoctoral Individual Fellowship Incentive Program Award. She holds membership in the American Association of Immunologists and the Association of Women in Science.

Please join us in welcoming Drs. He and Bell to the UAB Department of Pathology. Their varying skill sets and levels of expertise will be welcome additions to the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology.