August 2018

Asma Nusrat, MD

Aldred Scott Warthin Professor& Director of Experimental Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Department of Pathology, Ann Arbor, MI

Asma has been an active member of ASIP since joining the Society in 2003. She is the current President of ASIP and head of the ASIP Council as well as the co-chair of the ASIP Vascular and Mucosal Pathobiology Scientific Interest Group (SIG). Asma has served as both a member and Chair of the ASIP Program Committee and as a voting member of the ASIP Council.

Asma completed her residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School and then pursued a clinical and research fellowship in gastrointestinal-hepatobiliary pathology, epithelial biology and mucosal inflammation. She was appointed as an Instructor in 1992 and then Assistant Professor at the same institution. Asma was subsequently recruited to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she rose to the rank of Professor. In 2015, she moved to the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor and was named the Aldred Scott Warthin Professor of Pathology.

As a physician-scientist, Asma not only directs a busy, successful research program, but also serves as an attending surgical pathologist in the gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary biopsy service, while also overseeing the Division of Experimental Pathology. In her laboratory, she has had a long-standing interest in understanding basic mechanisms of intestinal epithelial barrier regulation and repair during mucosal inflammation. The Nusrat Laboratory has identified key regulatory pathways that control collective migration and proliferation of the intestinal epithelium, which is critical for repair of mucosal barrier in conditions such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease and infectious colitis, as well as surgical procedures. Complementary studies in the Nusrat Laboratory have focused on understanding fundamental mechanisms by which epithelial intercellular junction proteins regulate mucosal homeostasis and barrier function in health and disease. She has made many contributions to the understanding of how transmembrane tight junction (TJ) proteins regulate epithelial permeability. Seminal studies from her laboratory demonstrated that pro-inflammatory cytokines IFNγ and TNFα compromise barrier function by stimulating endocytosis of tight junction-associated proteins in a GTPase-actin cytoskeleton-dependent process. The Nusrat Laboratory determined that regulatory pathways downstream of TJs in epithelial cells appear to be conserved in other types of intercellular junctions, and recent studies have revealed that desmosomal cadherins play key roles in the regulation of intestinal epithelial homeostasis and barrier function. A long-term goal of such studies is to gain a better understanding of mechanisms by which epithelial integrity is restored after injury and to extend such knowledge to develop therapeutic strategies aimed at promoting mucosal repair.

For over 25 years, Asma’s research has been funded continuously by the NIH and private foundations. She has published over 185 original articles, reviews, and book chapters, including 17 papers in The American Journal of Pathology. In addition, Asma is an Associate Editor for Molecular Biology of the Cell, and previously served as Associate Editor for Gastroenterology and The American Journal of Pathology, in addition to prior service on two other editorial boards. She is frequently invited to speak at international symposia and has served on numerous NIH and foundation Study Sections. In addition to her passion for scientific discovery, she is a dedicated mentor and has contributed to the training of many graduate and medical students, residents, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty. Asma takes great pride in the success of her trainees and is committed to fostering their successful scientific careers.

Asma values collaboration, learning from others, and is grateful to mentors who have helped foster her success. For her, pathology, research, and life all go hand in hand. She looks forward to opportunities to learn something new and better understand biology.

She quotes Marie Curie, “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

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