People

Dr. Sherwood received his PhD in Physiology from Tulane University, where he studied the immunomodulatory properties of beta glucans. After completing a post-doctoral research fellowship at Northwestern University, he earned the MD degree from the University of Chicago. He completed a residency in Anesthesiology at Northwestern University and then joined the faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. After 14 years at UTMB, he moved to Vanderbilt. His research interests are in antimicrobial immunity, immunomodulation and systemic inflammation.

Dr. Bohannon completed her PhD at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX, where she began her studies into immune function following severe burn injury. After completing her PhD studies in 2011, she joined the Sherwood Lab at UTMB as a postdoctoral fellow. Shortly thereafter, she assisted Dr. Sherwood in relocating his laboratory to the Anesthesiology department at VUMC in 2012, where she completed her postdoctoral training. She joined Anesthesiology faculty in 2015 and now has her own research program aimed at investigating immunomodulatory therapies for the prevention of infection and sepsis in patients with severe burn and other critical injuries. Utilizing a variety of murine trauma and infection models, as well as ex vivo study of peripheral blood leukocytes obtained from critically ill patients, Julie's studies seek to understand how critical illness causes immune dysfunction and increased susceptibility to infection. The goal of these studies is to develop new approaches to decrease the incidence and severity of infection in critically injured patients.

Dr. Hernandez is originally from El Paso, Texas. He did his training at UTMB Galveston to include a fellowship in critical care medicine and another in cardiothoracic anesthesiology.  He then moved to UTHSCSA where he was chief of anesthesiology critical care medicine and cardiothoracic anesthesiology. Dr. Hernandez joined the Sherwood lab and is focused on translating strategies for enhancing the innate immune function and trained immunity, from small animal models into the human subject.  He received a 4-year K08 award from NIH General Medical Sciences.

Xenia was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was raised in both Philadelphia and Delaware. Xenia completed her PhD in Molecular, Cellular and Biochemical Pharmacology at the University of Cincinnati in 2022. Her doctoral studies examined the contribution of biological sex and activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 pathway in the adipose tissue during sepsis. Xenia is currently continuing her academic career as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Bohannon Lab.

Dr. Hao originates from China. She received her PhD from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 2023, where she studied the role of relative adrenal insufficiency and GC therapy in pediatric sepsis. After graduation, Dan joined the Sherwood lab as a postdoctoral research fellow to continue her study in the field of immunology.

Maggie hails from Chardon, Ohio. She earned a B.S. in Biomedical Science from The Ohio State University, where she studied bacterial adherence mechanisms with Dr. Sam King. And aspiring physician-scientist, she joined the Vanderbilt MSTP in 2017. She has worked in the Sherwood Lab since 2019, where she studies the role of the metabolite itaconate in innate immune training.

Mary hails from Springfield, VA and earned her B.S in Biology from Mary Baldwin University. Following graduation, she conducted basic and translational research in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Shupp at Medstar Washington Hospital Center studying several mechanisms of burn wound healing and scar pathology. She joined the Bohannon lab in 2023 to pursue graduate studies investigating therapeutic employment of trained innate immunity as a means of protecting against infection after burn injury.

Jingbin has served as research assistant and lab manager for the Sherwood Lab since 2013. She performs the critical tasks of managing animal and supply orders, lab organization, maintenance of equipment, and facilitation of experiments. 

Ben is originally from Mandeville, Louisiana. In 2024, he received his B.S. in Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University. There, he studied the role of oxytocin receptor neurons in mouse paternal care with Dr. Ryoichi Teruyama. Ben joined the Sherwood Lab in fall 2024 to gain research experience in immunology while applying to MD-PhD programs.

Olivia was born and raised in Bowie, Maryland. She is currently an undergraduate student (Class of 2024) at Vanderbilt University double majoring in Biochemistry and Medicine, Health, & Society with a minor in Spanish. Olivia has been a member of the Bohannon Lab since the beginning of 2021 and plans to stick around for the rest of her undergraduate career. Her project is on TLR expression and signaling after severe burn trauma. 

Originally from Wisconsin, Katherine received her B.S.E. in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University where she concentrated in biomaterials research. In 2018, Katherine completed the ASIP internship in the Sherwood Lab. In 2019, she decided to continue her work in the Sherwood Lab as a research assistant, focusing on metabolic rewiring of macrophages in trained innate immunity. She is currently a student in the medical scientist training program at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Owen completed her Ph.D. in December 2017 with a concentration in Physiology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY. Her doctoral work was aimed at investigating underlying mechanisms of long-term skeletal muscle weakness in middle-aged murine sepsis survivors using a refined clinically relevant animal model; this project was supported by an individual F31 NRSA predoctoral fellowship. She transitioned to Dr. Bohannon's lab at VUMC in August 2019 to expand her training in the field of Immunology. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in 2021 on the role of metabolic flux on antimicrobial function and intracellular signaling pathways by which TLR agonists mediate host resistance to infection, funded by the IMDTP T32 program at VUMC. Dr. Owen returned to University of Kentucky as an Assistant Professor in the Athletic Training and Nutrition Center for Muscle Biology where her current studies are aimed at the role of macrophages as regulators of skeletal muscle regeneration after sepsis. 

Dr. Patil completed his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and his clinical training from B.J. Medical College, Pune, India. His doctoral research involved studying sepsis-induced renal mitochondrial dysfunction and acute kidney injury. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Edward Sherwood and and continued as an Early Stage Investigator in the Department of Anesthesiology until 2022. Dr. Patil's Ph.D. and postdoctoral studies were supported by American Heart Association fellowship grants. His research program focused on deciphering the molecular mechanisms involved in diverse TLR ligand-induced train immunity-mediated protection against sepsis, with a focus on immunoresponsive gene 1 and mitochondrial reprogramming-induced generation of the antimicrobial metabolite, itaconate. As a Principal Investigator, his work was funded by the Shock Society Faculty Research Award and Vanderbilt Faculty Research Scholars Award. In 2022, Dr. Patil left VUMC to enter the industry sector as a medical writing manager for Vir Biotechnology. 

Cody is originally from Sheridan, Arkansas. After earning a B.A in molecular and cellular biology & philosophy from Vanderbilt in 2014, he decided to stick around for the MD/PhD program. Since joining the Sherwood lab in 2016, Cody has studied innate immune training to better combat infections. Cody completed his PhD in the Sherwood lab in 2021 and subsequently completed the final year of his MD at VUMC in 2022. He is now a resident physician in emergency medicine at Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Dr. Luan joined the Sherwood lab as a staff scientist at the beginning of the transition to Vanderbilt in 2013. During his tenure in the lab he served as a key facilitator, collaborating with each member of the team. Dr. Luan also actively maintained his own research projects. With his high level of expertise in every technique performed in the lab, he made significant contributions to each project. Dr. Luan was nominated by the lab for the Roger England Research Award, which he won at the 13th Annual Department of Anesthesiology Research Symposium in 2017. He left the lab in 2020 to pursue a career in Cardiovascular Perfusion. Currently, he is a cardiovascular perfusionist and ECMO specialist at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, and an instructor at the School of Perfusion Technology at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, TX. 

Ben hails from Rockville, MD. He earned his PhD in the Sherwood Lab in August 2017 studying how a single administration of TLR ligands can prevent infections for over two weeks. His work centered on the role of the macrophage in this protection, and how TLR ligands persistently change macrophage metabolism to fuel an antimicrobial state. He is currently a pediatric resident physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and plans to start a fellowship in neonatology in 2021.  

Jessica joined the Bohannon Lab as a Research Assistant in December 2016, after graduating from the University of Alabama. She helped to coordinate and conduct experiments, maintain murine model care, and assist in preparation of presentations and manuscripts related to Dr. Bohannon's studies using various TLR agonists as a means of mediating protection against infection after severe burn. In August 2017, she left to pursue a dual degree MD/MPH program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and UTHealth School of Public Health. She returned to the lab during the summer of 2018 as a Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellow (MSARF) in which she continued working on her previous project, which she presented at the 2018 American Society of Anesthesiologist Meeting. She is currently an Anesthesia resident physician at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.  

Dr. Guo was born and raised in China and received her M.D. degree there. She joined Dr. Sherwood's lab at UTMB in 2010 and followed the lab to Vanderbilt University, where she completed her PhD. degree in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. Her dissertation focused on mechanisms of acute sepsis-induced systemic inflammation and multiple organ injuries with emphasis on the roles of natural killer (NK), NKT and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, as well as the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-15. Following completing of her doctoral studies, she continued in the lab as a postdoctoral fellow with a research focus on the immunmetabolism of macrophages in response to the TLR4 agonist MPLA. Dr. Guo is currently a Pathology resident physician at Columbia University.