Dr. Thiboutot is a tenured, endowed Professor in the Department of Dermatology and Director of Penn State’s Clinical and Translational Research Education Program. Prior to accepting this position, Dr. Thiboutot served as Associate Program Director of the CRC, Co-Director of Penn State’s MD/PhD program and Medical Director for Penn State’s K30 program. She has years of experience in administration and operation of these programs. Her NIH-funded laboratory focuses on translational studies investigating the mechanisms by which retinoids regulate cellular growth and human sebum production.
She is actively involved in mentoring MD/PhD students, medical students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in her laboratory and within the university. Dr. Thiboutot’s research career was fostered by excellent mentorship in a collaborative environment and funding through Dermatology Foundation fellowships, a K08 award and subsequently R01 awards. Dr. Thiboutot has recently completed her term on the ACTS study section of the NIH and continues to serve on an ad hoc basis. She is committed to fostering the next generation of clinical and translational researchers in her leadership position within the CTSI.
Dr. Pawelczyk is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology in the College of Health and Human Development at UP. He holds additional appointments in the CoM and the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Physiology.
He has been a member of the CRC Advisory Committee for 7 years and co-directed the cross-campus T32 “Physiological Adaptations to Stress” where he developed “distributed-learning” models for multi-campus life sciences education. Dr. Pawelczyk is a former astronaut and served as a payload specialist on the only space mission dedicated to basic and clinical neuroscience (Neurolab, STS-90).
He has conducted clinical research for more than 25 years, directly mentoring medical, graduate and undergraduate students. In addition to research and teaching responsibilities, he is a former Faculty Master of the Schreyer Honors College. With funding from NASA, his laboratory focuses on autonomic regulation of blood pressure and blood flow, particularly hypovolemic states and extreme environmental conditions.
