Daniel Tyrrell, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, was recently awarded the 2024 Graduate Biomedical Sciences (GBS) Mentorship Award at the Graduate Student Research Day event held August 9. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in mentorship and is nominated and voted upon by GBS Ph.D. students.

Tyrrell joined the department in 2022 from the University of Michigan where he served as research investigator in the Department of Cardiology’s Division of Internal Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in Integrated Physiology and Pharmacology from Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, before completing postdoctoral training as a research fellow in the University of Michigan’s Department of Cardiology.

Tyrrell’s research interests include aging, inflammation, mitochondria, vascular dementia, atherosclerosis, mitophagy, vascular disease, immunology, senescence and neurodegeneration. In 2022, Tyrrell was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R00 to study the increased risk of vascular disease in older adults and in 2024, he was awarded a grant from the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) to study protein’s T cells relation to aging.

“In the lab, my goal is to get trainees comfortable with taking calculated risks without fear of experiments failing,” Tyrrell says. “My approach to mentorship depends on the needs of the individual. It’s important for me to try to understand the mentee because I know that every person will take a different path.”

Tyrrell has mentored high school students to post-doctoral fellows. At UAB, he is mentoring several junior researchers just starting their careers.

“I’m really grateful that I was nominated by the students and recognized for this award. It’s something that I will always cherish.”