Dr. LaShan Simpson

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Dr. Simpson received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Clemson University. She has been engaged in mammalian cell culture for more than 16 years since she first began her research career as an undergraduate researcher. Her doctoral research focused on developing cell therapy treatments for vascular calcification. She was advised by Dr. Naren Vyavahare at Clemson University. Her research interests were in targeted therapies and she strengthened her polymer expertise during her postdoctoral training at Rice University under the advisement of Dr. Jennifer West. Her postdoctoral work focused on injectable gene therapy for bone grafting. As an independent researcher, her work is focused on vascular calcification and related co-morbidities including end stage renal disease. She is developing therapies to maintain serum mineral balance in kidney disease patients and to prevent vascular calcification. She is also focused on understanding the phenomenon of phenotypic switching of native smooth muscle cells into osteoblast-like cells in calcified arteries and developing intervention therapies to prevent this switch. She began her faculty position at Mississippi State University in 2013. In addition, Dr. Simpson is passionate about engineering education, STEM inclusion, and K-12 outreach.