Yesterday was a big day here at OHSU as we welcomed OHSU’s next president, Dr. Danny Jacobs. All of us here at OccHealthSci thank Dr. Robertson for his leadership, and welcome Dr. Jacobs to OHSU. This week we also welcome one of our three newest faculty members, Dr. Xiaoquan Rao. In case you missed our June newsletter, this post features Xiaoquan Rao.
Xiaquan completed her Ph.D training in the area of vascular biology in both China and the U.S. The experience living in China convinced her to pursue a career to study environmentally-related disease. She gained training in environmental science, especially air pollution exposure, during her postdoctoral training. Dr. Rao was awarded a NIH K99/R00 grant to study the mechanism underlying air pollution-associated cardiovascular diseases.
She is ready to transition to the R00 phase at the Institute and continue studying the health effect of air pollution by state-of-the-art technologies. Although epidemiological studies have linked air pollution with cardiometabolomic diseases, it’s not fully understood how signals emanating from the lung contribute to systemic effects given the fact that the vast majority of the particulate matter particles do not cross the lung barrier. Her current research focuses on the role of NLRP3 inflammasome and lipid oxidation in mediating the adverse effects of particulate matter (PM2.5). Understanding the basis of these pathophysiological changes could lead to better therapy to reduce the adverse health effects of air pollution exposure.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Rao to our Institute!
