معرفی
Cara J Gottardi, PhD is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She also holds an appointment in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and is affiliated with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics.
Dr. Gottardi earned her BA from Princeton University (1988) and PhD from Yale University (1994), joining Northwestern in 2004 after research work at Memorial Sloan Kettering. In January 2020, she was appointed Director of the Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences.
Her research focuses on cell-cell adhesion mechanisms and their role in health and disease. Her laboratory investigates how cells stick to each other, molecular distinctions between dynamic and static adhesion, and how adhesion states regulate gene expression and cellular differentiation. Her work centers on the cadherin/catenin complex and its association with diseases ranging from cancer and fibrosis to chronic respiratory conditions like asthma.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on pulmonary fibrosis mechanisms, cellular adhesion pathways, and molecular signaling in lung diseases, with increasing use of advanced techniques like single-cell transcriptomics and cross-species comparative approaches.
- Driskill Graduate Program Service Award (2024)
- Faculty Service Award, Driskill Graduate Program (2018)
- Carol Basbaum Award, American Thoracic Society (2011)
- New Investigator Award, American Physiological Society (2006)
Dr. Gottardi serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Cell Science (2016-present) and Biology Open (2025-present). She has held significant leadership positions including Member of the American Thoracic Society Executive Committee (2019-2020) and Discussion Leader for the Gordon Research Conference on Cell Contact and Adhesion (2023). As Director of the Driskill Graduate Program, she oversees interdisciplinary PhD training with emphasis on preparing students for data-intensive scientific environments.
Her laboratory operates within the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine research division, collaborating across multiple centers including the Lurie Cancer Center and Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics, providing access to advanced technologies and patient data for translational research in respiratory diseases.
