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Mohamed,Abeer

Abeer Mohamed, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
University of Illinois Chicago

Research Interests: In my Lab, we strive to better understand the role of adipose tissue secretions in the initiation and progression of human diseases with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets and preventive strategies for obesity-related diseases. We seek to accomplish this goal by conducting interdisciplinary research with translational potential in obesity and related morbidities including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and hormone-dependent malignancies. A major research focus in our lab is endothelial cell dysfunction as an underlying mechanism in the pathogenesis of a wide range of obesity-associated diseases, including peripheral vascular disease, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, insulin resistance, and tumor invasion and metastasis. Our present research focuses on unraveling multiple molecular and epigenetic processes to better understand the multidimensional crosstalk between adipocytes and endothelial cells.

NAVBO Activities: NAVBO Member since 2023, participated in several meetings and committees and volunteered in chairing sessions in national conferences and judging posters at meetings.

Related Experience: Participation as a Ad Hoc Journal Reviewer of peers' work in numerous journals: Frontier in Cardiovascular Medicine, Adipocytes, Molecular Carcinogenesis, Nutrition and Cancer,  British Journal of Nutrition, Pharmacogenomics, Journal of Oncology and Biomarker Research, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Clinical Diabetes; Editorial Boards (Scientific Journals): Nutrients, Annals of Breast Cancer Research, Annals of Carcinogenesis, Austin Journal of Analytical and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Clinical Pathology-Remedy, Journal of Plant Chemistry and Echophysiology, Journal of Scientific and Research Publications; Committee Assignments: Faculty Judge at the Gary Kruh Poster Competition, March 2023; Faculty Judge at UIC Honors Research Symposium. April 2023; MSTP (Medical Scientist Training Program) Candidate Interviews, January, 2023; GEMS (Graduate Education in Medical Sciences) Ph.D. Students’ Evaluation and Interview, February and January-March, 2023; Faculty Judge at Fall 2022 UIC Honors Research Symposium, November, 2022; Search committee for the Research Assistant Professor position in The Division of Endocrinology, October, 2022; Organizer and Poster Judge at the Annual UIC Diabetes & Obesity Research Day, Oct, 2022; GEMS Symposium 2022 Faculty Judging, August, 2022; Faculty Judge at Gary Kruh Poster Competition- UIC Cancer Center, April, 2022; Faculty Judge at UIC Undergraduate Research Forum (URF), April, 2022; GEMS (Graduate Education in Medical Sciences) Ph.D. Students’ Evaluation and Interview, February and March, 2022; MSTP (Medical Scientist Training Program) Candidate Interviews, February, 2022; Faculty Judge at The 2021 COM Research Forum, December, 2021; Faculty Judge at The Research Symposium, Honors College, November, 2021; Co-Chair. The Nutrition Physiology Interest Group through APS symposium, 2022; Co-Mentor in T32 Diabetes, Nutrition and Obesity Research Training Program, 2021; Faculty Judge at the UIC Impact & Research Week, April 2021; Faculty Judge at the Gary Kruh Poster ; Competition, March 2021; Organizing Committee Member and Judge, Chicago Diabetes Day, October 13th 2020, College of Medicine, UIC; Chair at The Cardiac and Cardiovascular Research Symposium. Conference Series Ltd invites all the participants across the globe to attend Annual Congress on Pediatric Cardiology Montreal, Canada; Reviewer Committee Member for Physical Therapy Department admissions (PT program); Organizing Committee Member and Judge, Chicago Diabetes Day, October 8th 2019, College of Medicine, UIC; Mentor in the NIH Program, “Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD)” (T32) at the National Institute for General Medical Sciences; Faculty Judge at the 2019 Student Research Forum; Faculty Judge at the 2018 Student Research Forum; Faculty Judge at the 2017 Student Research Forum; Faculty Judge at the 2016 Student Research Forum.

Duties as a Faculty in the Graduate College
1- Reviewing the applications and interviewing applicants to the Graduate Education in Medical Sciences (GEMS) program, years 2021, 2022, and 2023
2- Reviewing the applications and interviewing applicants to the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), 2021, 2022, and 2023

Graduate and medical student Mentor/committee member
1. Mentor- Giorgia Scichilone, PhD student, Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences, UIC
2. Thesis Committee member- Miguel Negrete, PhD student, Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences, UIC
3. Mentor- Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE) Scholarship- Viri Godinez- Project: Lifestyle changes after bariatric surgery and their impact on cardiometabolic improvements, 2022
4. Thesis committee member- Christine (Chioma) Nnyamah, PhD candidate in the Department of Medicine. Project: Exploring the Role of Free Fatty Acid Receptor 2 on Adipose Tissue Function.
5. Co-mentor-Skylar Grimsley, Portal to Biomedical Research Careers Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program, Graduate College, 2021-2022
6. Thesis Committee member- Garry Lewis, PhD student, Biological Sciences, UIC

Duties as a Fellow Faculty for Honor College (2019-present). Mentoring three Capstone projects
1- Amier Munasser: Capstone project, 2022. Differential cargo of exosomes among obese and healthy subjects
2- Hania Deen: Capstone project, 2022. Vitamin D and microvascular dysfunction in Obesity
3- Caroline Dobosz: Capstone project, 2022. Endothelial integrity in response to glycosphingolipids
4- Salmah Abdulkadir, 2022.

Guest Editor
1- Nutrients: Special issue: The Role of Nutrition in Cardiometabolic Health: Experimental, Clinical, and
Community-Based Evidence"
2- Nutrients: Special issue: “Cardiometabolic Health in Relation to Diet and Physical Activity: Experimental and Clinical Evidence”
3- Cancers: Special issue: “Connecting the Dots between Breast Cancer and Metabolic Health: Lifestyle, Genetic and Epigenetics”
4- Nutrients: Special issue: Diet, Dietary Components, Inflammation, Obesity and Metabolic Complications

Session Chair and Judging Committee (National Conferences):
1- The 29th Annual Conference of the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM), October 2022
2- Chair of the session “Nutrition and Cardiovascular Diseases”, Experimental Biology Annual Meetings, Philadelphia, April, 2022.
3- The 26th Annual Conference of the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM), 2019

Mentor in T32 Training Programs
1- Diabetes, Nutrition and Obesity Research Training Program-Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, UIC (Funded)
2- Physical Activity and Nutrition T32 Training Program- Department of Kinesiology, College of Applied Health Sciences, UIC (Application in progress)
3- T35 Medical Student Training Program

Grant Reviewer
NIH-Study Section-Human Studies of Diabetes and Obesity – HSDO. 2022, Oct. 20th and 21st.
The American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant (ACS-IRG) pilot project program. March 2023