Mitzi Nagarkatti

Dr. Mitzi Nagarkatti is SmartState Endowed Chair of Center for Cancer Drug Discovery as well as Carolina Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Dept. of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at the School of Medicine (SOM), University of South Carolina (UofSC). In 2005, Dr. Nagarkatti moved from the Medical College of Virginia where she was a Professor in the Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology as well as directed the Immune Mechanisms Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Massey Cancer Center.

Dr. Nagarkatti’s research is broad-based and encompasses Inflammation, Autoimmunity, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, and Immunotoxicology. Dr. Nagarkatti has been the recipient of >$70million in extramural funding as Principal Investigator (P.I.)/Co-P.I. to support the research in her lab since moving to UofSC. She is currently theP.I./on 3 National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grants. She also serves as the Co-P.I. of yet another Center Grant for $6million from National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) to study the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the role of plant products in treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, which was renewed for an additional 5 years for $8million. In addition, Dr. Nagarkatti is also a Co-P.I. on a 5-year COBRE grant on Dietary Supplements and Inflammation for $10million which was a renewal of a previous 5-year grant for $10million, aimed at recruiting and mentoring junior faculty. Dr. Nagarkatti’s research has been continuously funded by agencies including the NIH, VA, US Army, American Cancer Society, NSF/EPA as well as other private foundations.

Dr. Nagarkatti is an American Association for Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) Fellow as well as Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. Dr. Nagarkatti was appointed to the prestigious National Toxicology Program (NTP) Board of Scientific Counselors. Dr. Nagarkatti has been the recipient of numerous awards such as the Pfizer Award, UofSC Breakthrough Leadership Award, Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Award, etc. Dr. Nagarkatti has trained several undergraduate, graduate, medical and veterinary students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty. She has published ~300 scientific papers in high-impact journals and presented ~450 research abstracts at international, national and regional meetings. She has been an invited speaker and has chaired scientific sessions at national and international meetings. Dr. Nagarkatti has served as a reviewer for grant proposals for funding agencies such as National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Cancer Society (ACS), Dept. of Defense (DOD), etc. She is currently a regular member of NIH SIEE Study Section.