Staff Directory

U of MN MSTP Director Yoji Shimizu, PhD

Yoji Shimizu, Ph.D.

Director
612-626-6849
shimi002@umn.edu

Dr. Shimizu is a Distinguished University Teaching Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and holds the Harry Kay Chair in Biomedical Research. He is also the Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Immunology program co-leader in the Masonic Cancer Center. His laboratory focuses on understanding how immune cells respond to environmental cues that modulate cell-cell interactions and cell migration, and the functional significance of these molecular mechanisms of cell adhesion and migration on the ability of the immune system to respond efficiently and specifically to pathogens and tumors.

Advising Statement

Bryce Binstadt, MD, PhD

Bryce Binstadt, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Director
612-626-4598
binstadt@umn.edu

Dr. Binstadt is an Associate Professor in the Division of Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics. He is also Director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Program. He is also Director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Program and Director of the Pediatric Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP). His laboratory in the Center for Immunology is broadly interested in autoimmune disease pathogenesis, including investigating mechanisms of cardiovascular tissue damage in chronic rheumatic diseases.

Advising Statement

Linda McLoon, PhD

Linda McLoon, Ph.D.

Associate Director
612-626-0777
mcloo001@umn.edu

Dr. McLoon is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences. She is currently the Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Neurosciences and Co-Chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee for the Medical School. She has been funded by the National Eye Institute for many years studying the cause and potential pharmacological treatments for eye movement disorders in children. In addition, her laboratory has been focusing on understanding unique properties of the muscle stem cells in the extraocular muscles as a potential explanation for why these muscles are spared in a large number of degenerative neurologic and muscle disorders, including muscular dystrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Advising Statement

Suma Jacob, MD, PhD 180x270

Suma Jacob, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Director
612-626-6824
sjacob@umn.edu

Dr. Jacob is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her research program utilizes data-driven approaches to study biobehavioral differences in childhood that predict dimensional and categorical outcomes in neurodevelopmental disorders. As a neuroscientist, Suma is focused on clinical disorders that are highly correlated, emerge during development, and reflect overlapping genetic and brain-behavioral risks.

Advising Statement

Peter Gordon, M.D., Ph.D.

Peter Gordon, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Director
612-626-2778
gord0047@umn.edu

Dr. Peter Gordon is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Gordon received his MD/PhD from the University of Chicago in 2004. He completed his residency in Pediatrics in 2006 at Boston Children’s Hospital and his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Bone Marrow Transplant in 2010 at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Gordon’s laboratory interests focus on how an improved understanding of leukemia development and maintenance at the molecular and cellular level can be leveraged into better therapies.

Advising Statement

Susan Shurson

Susan Shurson, M.P.A

Assistant Director
sshurson@umn.edu

Susan has been with the MSTP Program since January 1997. She enjoys working directly with our students and feels that the primary purpose of her position is to be an advocate during their training. She works with students directly to assist in each step of the process of completing the Program, helping them graduate with as much ease as possible. One of Susan’s interests is Alternative and Complementary Medicine. She is a trained human and canine massage therapist and in her free time is studying acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.

Nicholas Berg

Nicholas Berg

Program Associate
612-940-9677
nick@umn.edu