SPEAKER: Lisa M. Salati, PhD

Dr. Lisa Salati was born in Philadelphia, PA and received her BS from the University of Delaware in Nutrition and Dietetics. She then worked as a Clinical Dietitian at Penn Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania before obtaining her MS and PhD from the University of Minnesota in Nutritional Sciences. Specializing in Biochemistry, she completed Postdoctoral Fellowships at both Case Western Reserve University and the University of Iowa. Dr. Salati joined the faculty at WVU in the Department of Biochemistry in 1992 and proceeded through the ranks to full professor, serving as Vice Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Director of Graduate Recruiting and Program Development in the Health Sciences Center at West Virginia University. In 2015, she was selected to serve as Assistant Vice President for Graduate Education in the Health Sciences Center, which includes a variety of highly-regarded programs in Biomedical Sciences, Clinical & Translational Sciences, Health Services & Outcomes Research, Nursing Research, Public Health Sciences, and the MD/PhD Scholars Training Program.

Along with her leadership roles in health science education, she has maintained an active research program. Her research focuses on nutrient control of cellular function and metabolism, which has applications to atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, and obesity. Dr. Salati has over 30 publications in biochemistry and nutrition science, and her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society. She lives in Morgantown with her husband, Dr. Brad Hillgartner, together they raised two children, Daniel and Anne, both of whom have moved on to independent careers.