Vice President for Research
Professor, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology

Dr. Dorsa is an experienced research administrator and scientist, is OHSU's vice president for research. Dr. Dorsa administers and coordinates academic research at OHSU's three schools and helps develop the agenda for building OHSU's research capacity through The Oregon Opportunity, the public-private initiative to accelerate and expand OHSU's biomedical research.

Dr. Dorsa’s laboratory attempts to understand the cellular and molecular events which mediate the effects of estrogen on gene transcription in brain neurons and glia. Classical actions of estrogen involving nuclear hormone receptor dimerization and binding to consensus hormone response elements, as well as “cross-talk” with other protein kinase-dependent signal transduction pathways such as protein kinase A, and the mitogen activated protein kinases are studied. The lab also investigates the relative roles of estrogen receptor-subtypes (ERa and ERb) in these responses. The interest is in understanding membrane initiated events in neuroendocrine regulation, reproductive behavior, and neurotropic effects in the developing and aging brain. 

Professor
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, and Public Health & Preventive Medicine

Dr. Guise's research focuses on improving healthcare and safety for women and children related to childbirth. She is the Director of the State Obstetric and Pediatric Research Collaboration (STORC ) and has developed a standardized simulation OB emergency drill and team training curriculum which is implemented throughout rural and urban obstetric practices in Oregon. She is nationally recognized as a leader in evidence-based obstetrics. 

In addtion to serving as the Oregon BIRCWH Director, Dr. Guise is also Director of the Oregon Institute for Patient-Centered Comparative Effectiveness, Associate Director of the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) and Director of the EPC's Comprehensive Comparative Effectiveness Research Center. She is a practicing OB/GYN who has additional training in evidence-based medicine, medical ethics, and epidemiology and dedicates more than 75% of her time to research.

As an R01 funded researcher, Dr. Guise strives to fill research gaps identified in evidence reviews and as a clinician she endeavors to conduct evidence reviews that are relevant, reliable, and actionable to improve health care delivery and the health of the public. The substantive areas for her primary research include women's health, epidemiology, information technology, simulation, and health system research to improve health outcomes and health care quality for women and children.

Professor, Departments of Anethesiology & Perioperative Medicine and Physiology & Pharmacology

Dr. Alkayed is Professor of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine (APOM) and of Physiology & Pharmacology. Dr. Alkayed is also Director of APOM Cerebrovascular Research Division and of Core Molecular Laboratories & Training, and Associate Director of the OHSU Research Center for Gender-Based Medicine (RCGBM). Dr. Alkayed's research interests include gender differences in cerebrovascular physiology and ischemia; stroke; sex steroids effects in brain and cerebral vessels; eicosanoid signaling in astrocytes and endothelium; and peroxisomal biogenesis.

Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology & Medical Oncology

The Bagby laboratory intensively investigates the hematopoietic functions of the Fanconi anemia protein family. He mentored Tanja Pejovic, a BIRCWH Scholar who studies whether alterations in FANCD2 expression plays a role in ovarian carcinogenesis in women. The results of the project carried out by Drs. Pejovic and Bagby are in press (Cancer Research, 2006) and indicate that tissue specific genetic instability in ovarian epithelial cells and FANCD2 gene suppression in those cells may be biomarkers of inherited ovarian and breast cancer risk. Dr. Bagby currently works with veterans at the Portland VA (part of the OHSU campus).

Chair, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Dr. Becker is an internist with a long history of gynecologic cancer research among minority women. He has published extensively on HPV infections and their relation to cervical neoplasia in Hispanic and American Indian women in New Mexico, as well as among Alaska Native women in Anchorage. He has been involved in cancer control training and cancer control research among American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Polynesians through two NIH grants (R01-CA-64451 and R25 CA83646). Through those grants, he provides mentorship to numerous Native researchers around the country. He also is program director for a large American Indian-based project, Northwest Tribal Health Research Center, also under NIH funding (GM-00-007). Along with Dr. Cynthia Morris, he co-directs the Human Investigations Program (K30 HL4516). Dr. Becker is well positioned to assist the BIRCWH trainees in mentoring for minority research projects, and can facilitate bridging activities with the Human Investigations Program and the MPH program.

Senior Scientist, Adjunct Professor, Oregon National Primate Research Center

Dr. Bethea conducts research in the Oregon National Primate Research Center Department of Behavioral Neuroscience and Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Dr. Bethea's research interests focus on the interactions of estrogen, progesterone, and stress on the cell biology of serotonin neurons and their relation to hormone therapy and hypothalamic amenorrhea.

Professor, Family Medicine and Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Dr. Carney's research interests include breast cancer, cancer screening, mammography, and evaluation of medical school and family medicine residency curriculum.  In addition to serving as the Associate Director of Cancer Prevention, Control and Population Studies in the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, Dr. Carney was recently named Associate Editor of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Director, Center for Women's Health

As an obstetrician, perinatal epidemiologist, and health economist, Dr. Caughey is interested in how common obstetric interventions affect maternal and neonatal outcomes. Specifically, he has expertise and a wide range of experience regarding the conduct of outcomes research, clinical trials, and both cost and cost-effectiveness analyses.

Professor, Department Obstetrics & Gynecology

Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology

Dr.  Eden is a former BIRCWH Scholar, an associate professor, and the director of Pre- and Post-doctoral Training and Informatics in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Informatics. Her research interest is to design tools to support women's decision making regarding their health.

Professor, Department of Internal Medicine

Dr. Elliot is the Principal Investigator of a NIH-funded study entitled PHLAMEII (Promoting Healthy Lifestyles: Alternative Models' Effects) that studies interventions that encourage habits to develop healthy nutrition and physical activity.  PHLAME extends the original Behavior Change Consortium using a team-centered, peer led, scripted curriculum and one-on-one motivational interviewing for health promotion that has been shown to significantly improve healthy nutrition and physical activity. She directs the ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives) program to deter disorder eating and drug use among adolescent females in 40 middle and high schools and the ATLAS (Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids) program in male high school students.

Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering

is a Gordon Moore Endowed Chair, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Director of the OHSU Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine, and Associate Director for Translational Research, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. The Gray laboratory explores mechanisms by which genomic, transcriptional and proteomic abnormalities occur in selected cancers, elucidates how these abnormalities contribute to cancer pathophysiologies and assesses the ways in which these abnormalities influence responses to gene targeted therapies.

Senior Scientist, Oregon National Primate Research Center

Dr. Grove is interested in whether programming defects in body weight management lie in abnormal development of hypothalamic feeding circuitry, deficiency in central sensitivity to peripheral hormonal signals (i.e., insulin and/or leptin) or in peripheral metabolism. The nonhuman primate model used investigates the role of maternal health and diet on the development of metabolic pathways in offspring. They have found that chronic consumption of a high fat/calorie diet during pregnancy leads to the development of fatty liver disease in the offspring. Thus the dramatic rise in obesity, diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children in the past two decades may be partially due to maternal diet during pregnancy.

Professor, Department of Medical Informatics and Clincial Epidemiology

Dr. Helfand is a Professor and Director of the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center.  His research focuses on methods for conducting systematic reviews and for improving comparative effectiveness research. 

Oregon National Primate Research Center, Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences

Dr. Hennebold is an associate scientist researching the molecular and cellular processes necessary for ovulation and luteal function; ovarian causes of infertility, and the control of fertility.  One particular area of interest for Dr. Hennebold's research team includes the characterization of the molecular and cellular events necessary for the development, function, and regression of the corpus luteum. Another area of interest for Dr. Hennebold involves identifying and characterizing the molecular events that are necessary for follicle rupture and detachment of the oocyte from the inner cell layer of the follicle.

Chair, Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology

Dr. Hersh is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology and Professor Internal Medicine and Public Health & Preventive Medicine.  His research focuses on information retreival, health information technology, and the quantity and characteristics of the workforce needed to implement health information technology in clinical settings.

Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care and Director, MD/PhD Training Program

Dr. Jacoby is Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine, and the Director of the MD/PhD Training Program. He is the director of an NHLBI T32 training grant entitled Multidisciplinary Research Training in Pulmonary Medicine, which has 2 pre-doctoral and 4 post-doctoral trainees. During the past 10 years, he has mentored 18 trainees, 10 post-doctoral and 8 pre-doctoral, many of whom remain in academics or industry. Dr. Jacoby's research focuses on virus induced asthma attacks, using a combination of cell culture, animal models, and human tissue studies. He has shown these infection change the function of airway nerves, and also directly affect airway smooth muscle function via toll like receptor 7.

Professor and Chief, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (Radiology)

Dr. Kaul has pioneered the field of microbubble echocardiology, a powerfully effective screening test for the early detection of coronary heat disease. His research interests are coronary pathophysiology and physiology, advanced echo, and nuclear cardiology.

Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology

The Kelly laboratory is interested in the electrophysiology of hypothalamic neurons (e.g., opioid, dopamine and GnRH) that control homeostasis and behavior. Opiates and opioid peptides inhibit both sexual behavior and gonadotropin secretion from the anterior pituitary of the male and female. A particular group of endogenous opioid neurons, hypothalamic ?-endorphin neurons, are both neurosecretory and neuromodulatory in nature.  The Kelly lab has established that the ?-opioid receptor is an autoreceptor on ?-endorphin neurons and inhibits their activity via activation of inwardly rectifying K+ channels.

Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine

Dr. Lindner is a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine. His research focuses on microvascular physiology and molecular imaging with ultrasound. 

Oregon National Primate Research Center, Division of Reproductive Sciences

Dr. Mitalipove is an associate scientist wiht the Oregon National Primate Research Center, Division of Reproductive Sciences; the Oregon Stem Cell Center; the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Molecular & Medical Genetics, and is the co-Director of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) and Embryonic Stem Cell (ESC) Laboratory. His ground-breaking reasearch in stem cells focuses on genetic and epigenetic factors contributing to the developmental potential of gametes and early embryos.

Vice Chair of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology

Dr. Morris has a research focus in maternal and child health, including preeclampsia and congenital cardiac malformations.  Dr. Morris established the Oregon Registry of Congenital Heart Defects, a population-based cohort study of Oregonians with surgery for common heart defects, followed prospectively for outcomes. She has a strong interest in the use of patient registries and practice-based networks for translation of research to the community. She is the research director for the Oregon Rural Practice Research Network and was awarded the 2004 Mentor Award from the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon.

Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine

Professor and Senior Scientist, School of Nursing

Dr. Nail is a Rawlinson Distinguished Professor and Senior Scientist in the School of Nursing. Her research focuses coping with cancer, including cancer symptom management, and cancer survivorship with a focus on women experiencing cancer.

Senior Scientist, ONPRC, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

Dr. Ojeda's main area of interest is the neuroendocrine control of female sexual development. His research efforts are focused on two principal topics: the development of the hypothalamic neuronal network which produces luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, the neuropeptide that controls the secretion of gonadotropin hormones from the adenohypophysis, and the regulation of ovarian function by noradrenergic and peptidergic nerves.  The involvement of growth factors in controlling both the development of ovarian innervation and the organization of the reproductive hypothalamus is a subject of intense interest. Recent studies include determining the roles of neurotrophic factors in the onset of puberty and the role of homeobox genes in neuroendocrine development.

Dr. Orwoll is an internationally recognized expert in the area of age-related musculoskeletal change, particularly bone biology and metabolic bone disease. Dr. Orwoll specializes in the evaluation and care of patients with osteoporosis, other forms of metabolic bone disorders, and abnormalities of calcium metabolism. He has been the Director of the Bone and Mineral Clinic, and of the Bone Density Lab. He divides his time between his clinical activities, managing his own active research projects, and directing the clinical/translational research programs at OHSU. Dr. Orwoll is currently the primary mentor of two BIRCWH Scholars, Dr. Carrie Nielson and Dr. Christine Lee.

Associate Professor, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine

Dr. Peters joined the Division of Biostatistics, OHSU Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, in 2003 and serves as one of the biostatisticians for the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Center. Her areas of interest include clinical trial methodology and randomization techniques.

Senior Scientist, Advanced Imaging Research Center

Research in Dr. Rooney's group is focused on the development and application of quantitative magnetic resonance techniques to characterize tissue structure and function. A major thrust of Dr. Rooney's work aims to phenotype brain blood vessels using dynamic MRI acquisitions combined with pharmaco- kinetic modeling.  We apply these techniques to learn how brain blood vessels change in disease processes such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimers, and brain tumors.

Associate Professor, Department of Population Health & Preventive Medicine

Dr. Jackilen Shannon is a nutritional epidemiologist with a strong track record of investigation in the role of diet and nutrition in carcinogenesis. She joined Oregon Health and Science University in 2000. She completed a doctoral degree program in Nutrition with a minor in Epidemiology at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an NIH-NCI post-doctoral training fellowship in cancer epidemiology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The primary focus of Dr. Shannon's work has been to unveil the nutritional factors that promote the development and progression of human prostate cancer.

Senior Scientist, Oregon National Primate Research Center; Professor, Department Physiology and Pharmacology

Dr. Smith studies hypothalamic neurons that control food intake and energy balance. The primary hypothesis being examined in both rodent and nonhuman primate models is that exposure to a calorically rich or calorically deprived diet during the critical period of development of feeding circuitry can permanently alter the body weight phenotype during adulthood. Another focus of the research in the Smith laboratory is to understand how the regulation of food intake/energy balance and reproduction are highly integrated. For example, in times of prolonged negative energy balance, menstrual cyclicity stops.

Senior Scientist and Head, Division of Reproductive Sciences, Oregon National Primate Research Center

Dr. Stouffer’s lab is interested in the factors controlling cyclic ovarian function in primates. Studies examine the cascade of events following the midcycle gonadotropin surge that result in ovulation of the mature follicle and development of the corpus luteum from the ruptured follicle. Experiments are also elucidating the role of local factors, including angiogenic factors and progesterone itself, in the maintenance and timely regression of the corpus luteum in the nonfertile cycle, and during luteal “rescue” in early pregnancy.  

Professor and Director of the Heart Research Center

Assistant Professor, Knight Cancer Institute and Adjunct Professor, Center for Research on Occupational and  Environmental Toxicology (CROET)

Dr. Thullier's is a former Oregon BIRCWH scholar. His laboratory is currently investigating the molecular mechanisms by which CLA prevents tumor promotion in epithelial tissues. Dr. Thuillier’s research combines studies of molecular mechanisms for how dietary nutrients function in cancer with prevention approaches to carcinogenesis. The main interest in the lab is to study the role of dietary fatty acids in cancer prevention.