Our Faculty
Charles D. Anderson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Charles D. Anderson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Linda S. Costanzo, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita
Linda S. Costanzo, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Renal handling of calcium at the nephron level
Email: linda.costanzo@vcuhealth.org
Richard M. Costanzo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Richard M. Costanzo, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Physiology of smell and taste and the clinical treatment of smell and taste disorders
Email: richard.costanzo@vcuhealth.org
Jose M. Eltit, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Jose M. Eltit, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Psychostimulants and potential therapeutic targets for psychostimulants use disorder; mechanisms behind maladaptive responses of the heart to common arrhythmias and potential therapies
Email: jose.eltit@vcuhealth.org
Carlos R. Escalante, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Carlos R. Escalante, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Assistant Graduate Program Director
VCU MARC Undergraduate Program Codirector
Research interests: Structural biology of ssDNA viruses and regulation of transcription and replication processes using x-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy
Email: carlos.escalante@vcuhealth.org
Javier González-Maeso, Ph.D.
Professor
Javier González-Maeso, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Structure, function and regulation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), their interacting proteins and psychiatric disease associations such as schizophrenia, depression and opioid use disorder
Email: javier.maeso@vcuhealth.org
John R. Grider, Ph.D.
Professor and Interim Chair
John R. Grider, Ph.D.
Professor and Interim Chair
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Enteric nervous system and control mechanisms of gastrointestinal motility
Email: john.grider@vcuhealth.org
Qinglian Liu, Ph.D.
Professor
Qinglian Liu, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Structural and functional analysis of Hsp70/Hsp110 molecular chaperones for treating fungal infections, cancers and neurodegenerative diseases
Email: qinglian.liu@vcuhealth.org
Vijay Lyall, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Vijay Lyall, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: investigating taste transduction mechanisms in both pre-clinical models and cultured adult human fungiform taste cells using taste nerve recordings, molecular techniques, imaging techniques and behavioral studies
Email: vijay.lyall@vcuhealth.org
Ramzi A. Ockaili, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Ramzi A. Ockaili, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Systems physiology
Email: ramzi.ockaili@vcuhealth.org
Roland N. Pittman, Ph.D.
Professor and Graduate Program Director
Roland N. Pittman, Ph.D.
Professor and Graduate Program Director
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Role of oxygen in local regulation of blood flow and oxygen transport in microcirculation
Email: roland.pittman@vcuhealth.org
Liya Qiao, Ph.D., M.S.
Professor
Liya Qiao, Ph.D., M.S.
Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Molecular mechanisms of visceral pain and multi-organs cross sensitization using modern genetic and imaging techniques in preclinical models and human tissues
Email: liya.qiao@vcuhealth.org
I. Scott Ramsey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
I. Scott Ramsey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Structural bases of ion channel gating and permeation; automated high-throughput electrophysiology; targeting ion channels for novel therapeutic approaches to treat neuroinflammation, deafness and inflammatory airway disease
Email: ian.ramsey@vcuhealth.org
Montserrat Samso, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Montserrat Samso, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Core Director CryoEM
Co-Director of the VCU Structural Biology Core Laboratory
Research interests: Structure-function of macromolecular machines using cryo-electron microscopy; ultrastructure of muscle to understand cardiovascular and musculoskeletal disorders
Email: montserrat.samso@vcuhealth.org
Gea-Ny Tseng, Ph.D.
Professor
Gea-Ny Tseng, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Research interests: Pathways of protein trafficking in adult cardiac myocytes and the linkage between dysregulation of protein trafficking and disease progression in the heart
Email: gea-ny.tseng@vcuhealth.org
Administrative Staff
Jodi Humpage
Fiscal Administrator
Jodi.Humpage@vcuhealth.org
Chris M. Smith
Assistant to Chair
Chris.Smith@vcuhealth.org
Christina I. Kyrus, M.B.A.
Graduate Program Coordinator
cikyrus@vcu.edu
Kathryn (Kate) Leonard
Grants Administrator
kathryn.leonard@vcuhealth.org
Katherine Francisco
Purchasing & Receiving
Katherine.Francisco@vcuhealth.org