CHA Research Team

Dr. Jie Chen provides statistical bioinformatics and biostatistics support to the projects in the Center for Healthy Aging.  Dr. Chen’s research interests include, but not limited to, statistical change point analysis, applied statistics, statistical inference, model selection criteria, statistics in bioinformatics, biostatistics, statistical modeling of high throughput genomic data and biomedical data.  She is the leading author of the book entitled “Parametric Statistical Change Point Analysis: With Application to Genetics, Medicine, and Finance” (Birkhäuser, 1^st edition 2000, 2^nd edition 2012). In addition, Dr. Chen has rich collaborative research experience in molecular biology and bioinformatics. Her collaborative work has been published in Science, PNAS, Blood, AHA Circulations, Bioinformatics, BMC Bioinformatics, BMC Medical Genomics, Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Journal of Computational Biology, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, etc. She has been a member of the American Statistical Association (ASA) Caucus of Statistics Academic Representatives.  Dr. Chen was elected an ASA Fellow in 2014 and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Statistics (a Taylor & Francis journal).

Dr. Ali Eroglu is a tenured Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. He graduated from Istanbul University in Istanbul, Turkey with a DVM degree and completed his PhD in Reproductive Biology at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. Subsequently, he worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA as a post-doctoral research associate before moving to the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, USA as a research faculty. His research interests include cell and tissue preservation, stem cell aging and rejuvenation, and stem cell models of human diseases. Dr. Eroglu is currently serving as Director of both the Human Cord Blood Stem Cell Core and the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Core Unit. He supports the research projects in the Center for Healthy Aging by biobanking and providing different stem cell models.

Dr. William D. Hill, is an Emeritus Professor of the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy of the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Currently he is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina and Staff Scientist, Ralph H. Johnson VAMC in Charleston SC. He is an active collaborator with the Augusta University “Bone” research and CHA groups. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, NC. He completed his NRSA Post-doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA prior to joining MCG. Dr. Hill holds 2 awarded patents and has additional submitted patents under review. He is interested in Clinical Translation of his research including the development of drug and unique biological molecule delivery platforms for bone, bone injury, as well as other tissues and diseases associated with aging.  He is a member of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research and the Gerontological Society of America, he is a reviewer for numerous Journals, and serves on study sections for NIH and the VA. His research interests focus on the role of the cytokine CXCL12 and its cryptic downstream metabolites via known and novel receptors and cell signaling pathways related to cell function, including stem cell niche sites, cellular differentiation, mobilization, migration and homing. He is interested in the role of the CXCL12 axis in bone biology, cellular and tissue pathologies, cancer and aging.

 Maribeth H. Johnson has MS degrees in Animal Breeding and Genetics from VA Tech (1982) and Statistics from the University of Georgia (1992). She began working for the University System of Georgia in 1982 as a statistical programmer in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science at UGA.   She came to the Medical College of Georgia in 1993 as a Research Statistician in the Office of Biostatistics and became an Assistant Professor in the fledgling Department of Biostatistics in 2005.  She has spent her career consulting with researchers, designing studies, analyzing data, summarizing results and teaching others to do the same.  Since 2011 she has been a co-investigator on Dr. Isales’ P01 grant (Age-induced Impairment of Nutrient Signaling Results in Bone Loss) providing biostatistical and data management expertise.

Dr. Meghan McGee-Lawrence is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.  She received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering (emphasis in skeletal biomechanics) from Michigan Technological University and completed postdoctoral training in Cell / Molecular Biology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  Dr. McGee-Lawrence serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research (Springer Nature), and serves as a member of the Communications committee of the Orthopaedic Research Society, the Women in Bone and Mineral Research committee of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, and the Future Global Leaders committee for the International Federation of Musculoskeletal Research Societies.  She is also an Ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Foundation, and has served on the Skeletal Biology Development and Disease (SBDD) study section for the National Institutes of Health. Dr. McGee-Lawrence’s research focuses on the roles of epigenetics, hormone signaling, and mechanobiological changes in skeletal degeneration during aging.  In particular, the goal of her research program is to understand mechanisms involved in the maintenance and regeneration of bone structure and biomechanical strength, and uncovering the integrative physiological mechanisms by which the skeleton interacts with other body systems like fat and muscle. This program emphasizes epigenetic and mechanobiological therapeutic targets for skeletal treatment, mechanical competence of tissue, and pathways involved in skeletal communication, and has produced more than 60 peer-reviewed research articles published in major refereed journals.  Dr. McGee-Lawrence is currently a Principal Investigator on research funded by the NIH National Institute on Aging, the National Science Foundation, and the American Diabetes Association.

Dr. Xingming Shi is studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying aging and anti-inflammatory steroid hormone glucocorticoid-induced bone loss and marrow fat accumulation, focusing on how aging and glucocorticoids regulate bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) lineage commitment towards osteoblast and adipocyte differentiation pathways. The approaches used in his studies include cell and molecular biology, stem cell biology, and transgenic and conditional gene knockout animal models. The ultimate goal of his research is to develop new strategies preventing aging- and pharmacological agent-induced bone loss. Current projects include Inflammation and bone loss with aging. The major goal is to investigate how PPARg, via regulating fat and fat-generated factors, controls bone homeostasis and immune functions during aging process.

The Stranahan lab studies mechanisms for pathological synergy between obesity and age-related cognitive impairment. We use transgenic mouse models, viral vectors, and transplantation strategies to trace signaling from peripheral tissues into the central nervous system. To understand how peripheral signaling impacts memory, we use behavioral, electrophysiological and imaging approaches that reflect cognition and its underlying synaptic mechanisms. Our currently funded work in this area focuses on microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, as an interface between peripheral signals and neuronal plasticity in obesity. 

Dr. Alvin Terry Jr.  is a Regents Professor and the Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology,  Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University  (AU), Augusta, Georgia, USA. He is also Associate Vice President for Basic Science Research at AU, holds joint appointments as  Professor of Neurology and Graduate Studies and is a licensed pharmacist in Georgia and South Carolina.  Dr. Terry also created an institutional core facility at MCG/AU, the Small Animal Behavior Core (SABC) and he has served as the Director of this facility since its inception in 2003 . Dr. Terry's research interests and psychiatric illnesses and exposures to environmental toxins as well as drug discovery and development strategies to treat cognitive disorders.  His laboratories employ a variety of research methods ranging from behavioral testing in animal models (rodents to non-human primates) to molecular, cellular and analytical techniques.  To date, Dr. Terry has published 178 peer-reviewed research articles, 13 book chapters and commentaries, has presented numerous abstracts and invited seminars at national and international venues, and he holds one US patent. His research has been continuously supported by extramural funds for more than 25 years from a variety of sources to include multiple branches of NIH (NIMH, NIA, NIEHS, NIDA), the Department of Defense (DOD), research foundations , and the pharmaceutical industry  Dr. Terry has served on multiple study sections for a variety of governmental agencies including the NIH, NASA the DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has served as a scientific advisor for the Environmental Protection Agency as well as a consultant for several pharmaceutical companies and private consulting firms.  He is the current secretary of the Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs and previously served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Executive Committee and the Drug Discovery and Development Division of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).