Name: Medha M. Pathak
Credentials: PhD
Workplace: University of California, Irvine
Dr. Pathak is an Associate Professor of Physiology & Biophysics at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. After earning her PhD in Biophysics from UC Berkeley and conducting postdoctoral research in Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, she established her research program focused on the intersection of mechanotransduction and stem cell biology.
Dr. Pathak’s research investigates how mechanical forces influence the behavior of stem cells, particularly within the nervous system. Her work has provided insights on how physical forces transduced by the Piezo1 mechanically-activated ion channel shape development, homeostasis, and repair.
Dr. Pathak’s groundbreaking work has been recognized with prestigious awards like the Early Investigator Award from the Biophysical Society and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. She has secured over $6 million in competitive research funding from organizations like the NIH and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, enabling her lab to make transformative discoveries in this field.
