People

Meet the Principal Investigator

Douglas Strand, Ph.D.

Douglas Strand, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Urology

Dr. Strand obtained his Ph.D. with David Rowley at Baylor College of Medicine in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University under Simon Hayward. He joined the faculty of UTSW in 2014 and works closely with the clinicians in the Department of Urology to characterize the cellular pathogenesis of diseases of the human lower urinary tract. He is an active member of HuBMAP, GUDMAP, and CZI consortia and the SBUR and AUA societies.

Current Lab Members

Alicia Malewska, M.S.

Alicia Malewska, M.S.

Research Technician

Alicia obtained her master's degree at UT Dallas in 2005 and has worked at UT Southwestern ever since. She has managed Dr. Strand’s lab since 2014 and has expertise in a wide variety of molecular biology techniques.

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John Lafin, PhD

Senior Research Associate

John obtained his PhD degree from the University of Iowa in 2017 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Aditya Bagrodia at UT Southwestern. He joined Dr. Strand’s lab in 2021 and has expertise in bioinformatics and a wide variety of molecular biology techniques. 

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Olivia Wood, BS

Research Technician

Olivia obtained her bachelor of science degree from Texas Tech University in May 2022 and joined the Strand lab as a Research Technician in June 2022. 

Former Lab Members

Gervaise Henry, M.S.

Gervaise Henry, M.S.

Former Computational Biologist

Gervaise obtained his master's degree at American University in 2015. He joined Dr. Strand's lab in 2015. His previous experience involved the utilization of a diverse set of molecular techniques to investigate cancer biology. He also has a strong background in early-stage drug discovery, including the use of lab robotics. After a very successful fellowship with UT Southwestern Bioinformatics Department's Bioinformatics Core Facility (BICF), he transitioned to a more computational role in the lab. Gervaise has now moved on to DNANexus as a Senior Solutions Engineer.

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Diya Binoy Joseph, Ph.D.

Former Postdoctoral Fellow

Diya joined the Strand Lab in January 2019 as a postdoctoral researcher. Prior to this, she received her Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut in India in 2013 and a Ph.D in Cellular and Molecular Biology in December 2018 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her doctoral studies in Dr. Chad Vezina's lab, Diya studied the development of the lower urinary tract with special emphasis on the role of DNA methylating enzymes during prostate development. During her doctoral studies, Diya was part of a collaborative project with Dr. Strand to produce the first cellular anatomy of the normal human prostate at single cell resolution. This collaboration led to her  position as a postdoctoral researcher in the Strand Lab where she studied Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and the role of novel club and hillock urethral cell types in BPH growth. Dr. Binoy Joseph has gone on to a faculty position at InStem in Bangalore, India.