Heather Pua, MD PhD

Heather earned her BS in Biology and her MD PhD in Immunology from Duke University, where she identified a role for autophagy in naive T cell survival. She then moved to the West Coast, completing residency in Anatomic Pathology, clinical fellowship in Molecular Genetic Pathology, and post doctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. During her postdoc in the laboratory of Mark Ansel, she studied the role of miRNAs in allergic inflammation in the lung. Clinically at UCSF, she helped to implement whole exome sequencing for the diagnosis of genetic disease in pediatric populations. Heather is thrilled to be back in the Southeast starting her own lab!  When she is not busy having fun doing science, she usually is chasing after her two energetic daughters or exploring her new home of Nashville.