Senta K. Georgia

Senta K. Georgia is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, where she is also a Principal Investigator at the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). She was promoted to associate professor in 2023 and became the first Black PhD scientist to earn tenure at the Keck School since its founding in 1885.

• Education: BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University (with dual departmental honors), PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA
• Postdoctoral training: Hillblom Islet Research Center, UCLA

Georgia’s research focuses on pancreatic beta cell differentiation during organogenesis, beta cell proliferation in metabolic stress, and beta cell regeneration for diabetes therapy. Her work emphasizes DNA methylation mechanisms in defining beta cell identity and exploring CRISPR-Cas9 technology for genetic diabetes. Recent studies include investigating how pregnancy hormones boost beta cells via serotonin and the role of cell cycle molecules in beta cell mass regulation.

Her publications span diabetes pathophysiology, ß-cell biology, and regenerative medicine, with key contributions to understanding DNMT1-p53 interactions in pancreatic organogenesis and Skp2-p27 pathways in beta cell adaptive expansion. Current projects include CRISPR-based cures for rare diabetes and stem cell therapy development.

Georgia leads the USC COMPASS program ($2.9M CIRM grant) to diversify stem cell science and chairs admissions for the PhD Programs in Biomedical & Biological Sciences (PIBBS) at Keck. She co-led the DEI committee for her department and advocates for underrepresented students in STEM.

Labs/Teams: Georgia Lab at USC Stem Cell, collaborations with female faculty in USC Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry departments, partnerships with JEDI-WeST for institutional climate interventions.