Maria I. Ramirez

Maria I. Ramirez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. Her research focuses on the genetic and epigenetic regulation of gene expression in lung epithelial cells and its role in respiratory diseases.

Her research interests include lung biology, epithelial cell function, gene regulation, epigenetics, respiratory diseases, and cancer biology. She investigates how aging and environmental insults alter gene expression leading to abnormal repair and regenerative mechanisms that drive lung disease, with emphasis on mitochondrial biogenesis, cellular senescence, and carcinoma progression.

Dr. Ramirez leads a research laboratory affiliated with the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, where her team studies molecular mechanisms of lung diseases through investigations of signaling pathways, cell motility regulation, and immune responses in pneumococcal pneumonia and metastatic cancer models.