Alyssa H. Hasty, PhD

Alyssa received her BS in Biology at Tennessee Technological University and her PhD at Vanderbilt University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Tokyo University. Her current research focuses on adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance, and how this contributes to cardiovascular disease and diabetes that are associated with obesity. In particular, she is focused on how macrophage iron metabolism influences their phenotype and function. In light of the contribution of inflammatory macrophages to preterm birth, she has developed an interest in placental macrophage iron handling. Alyssa is very interested in graduate education and in faculty development. She serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Graduate Program, the Director or the Digestive Disease Research Center Career Development Program, and was past chair of the Women on Track program at Vanderbilt University. She is also a standing member of NIH Review Panel, Integrative Physiology of Obesity and Diabetes and of the American Diabetes Association.