Affiliation: University of Iowa

Martine Dunnwald, PharmD, PhD, is a faculty member at the University of Iowa in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, where she teaches the anatomical sciences to professional and graduate students and directs a research lab focused on epithelial biology of the oral cavity and skin.

Growing up in France, she trained as a pharmacist specializing in research. Pursuing her passion for epithelial biology, she moved to North America and received her PhD from Laval University (Québec, Canada). She discovered markers for hair follicle stem cells and developed novel tissue engineering models for recapitulating skin and tissue repair. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in epithelial differentiation and genetic skin disorders at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA), she established her research program at the University of Iowa in epithelial biology of the oral cavity and skin.

Dr. Dunnwald’s research focuses on identifying molecular mechanisms regulating tissue repair and orofacial development. She takes advantage of the fact that, although seemingly distinct, these two processes share many signaling pathways and gene regulatory network, facilitating their study.