Subhashini Bolisetty, PhD
Dr. Bolisetty is an Associate Professor in the Division of Nephrology. She received her bachelor’s degree in industrial biotechnology in India and her Ph.D. at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She received her first postdoctoral training under the guidance of Dr. James George in the department of Surgery and a second postdoctoral fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Anupam Agarwal. Dr. Bolisetty became an Assistant Professor in the Division of Nephrology in 2016 and was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2021.
Dr. Bolisetty’s research program focuses on understanding the interplay between iron metabolism and inflammation in kidney disease. She has received support from various funding sources, including the NIH, AHA and PKD Foundation. She currently serves as a PI on one R01 and as a co-investigator on 4 additional R01s. She has published over 40 manuscripts, a book chapter and several review articles.
Dr. Bolisetty enjoys teaching and is involved with numerous courses for the graduate school. She is also the recipient of the UAB GBS Teaching award. She serves on the graduate thesis committee for students and serves as a mentor for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. At UAB, she serves as the chair of the membership committee for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Faculty Association and serves as the Faculty advisor for She’s the First organization. She currently serves on the editorial board for the American Journal of Physiology Renal physiology, Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology and Frontiers in Medicine – Nephrology.
James Odum, M.D.
Dr. Odum’s translational research program focuses on pediatric specific mechanisms of sepsis and sepsis-associated acute kidney injury. He previously published work on pediatric kidney allograft surveillance biopsies prior to transitioning to acute kidney injury research. He had the privilege of training under Dr. Hector Wong, MD, an international expert on pediatric sepsis and an early pioneer in applying precision medicine principles to sub-phenotype critically ill children with septic shock during his critical care fellowship. Dr. Odum’s aim is to expand on Dr. Wong’s legacy by interrogating mechanisms of immune mediated renal tubular injury and organ cross-talk in sepsis using a bedside-to-bench-to-bedside approach.
He joins the Bolisetty lab as a mentored early stage investigator collaborating on sepsis related acute kidney injury projects to gain a deeper understanding of kidney biology.
Elise Weatherly
Elise Weatherly is currently pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Sociology from UAB. Her commitment to both fields has positioned her in a distinctive role within the lab, focusing primarily on histology.
Elise’s involvement in histology not only aligns with her academic pursuits but also encompasses essential tasks within the lab. Her proficiency extends to various laboratory tasks, including the handling of histological samples and the preparation of samples for analysis. With a strong foundation in medical sociology and a passion for the biomedical sciences, Elise Weatherly’s career aspirations align with a path toward medical school.
Ahmad Davidson
Ahmad Davidson is a senior at UAB majoring in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Science. He supports the team by performing animal husbandry and assisting fellow post-docs. His career goal is to attend medical school with an interest in becoming a sports medicine physician. While not busy at work/school, he enjoys being physically active, trying cultural cuisines, listening to music and learning Spanish.
Juheb Akhter
Juheb’s career objective is to develop therapies for kidney disease. During his graduate work in Jamia Hamdard in India, he examined molecular mechanisms leading to cisplatin-induced kidney injury in mice. Juheb received funding from various government funding bodies to pursue his research in acute kidney injury. Now, in Dr. Bolisetty’s laboratory, he is furthering his interest in AKI and exploring the role of ferritin, an iron-storage protein, in regulating kidney injury through activation of inflammatory and ferroptosis pathways.
Gia Vollmer
Gia recently graduated from UAB with her Accelerated Bachelor-Master’s in Multidisciplinary Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in neuroscience. She is now taking time to study pediatric sepsis associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) in a translational science environment in Dr. James Odum’s lab as she considers further education. In her free time, Gia is enjoying getting back into running long distance as well as working her way through her reading list.
Vivek Verma
Vivek received his PhD degree from the University of Delhi in 2019. During his graduate work, Vivek studied inflammatory pathways during urinary tract infections and trichomoniasis. He received his postdoctoral training at National Dairy Research Institute, India in dissecting the immune-recognition of spermatozoa in the female reproductive tract prior to taking post of lab manager at Dr. Bolisetty’s Lab. Currently, Vivek is working with Dr. Bolisetty to understand the inflammatory signaling during sepsis induced acute kidney injury. He also oversees general lab maintenance and ensures that projects are completed in a timely manner. He is fascinated by the immune and cellular homeostasis, how hosts behave differently during the encounter, progression, and the reparative phases of different diseases/pathologies. In the future, Vivek wants to work in unravelling the mechanisms and biomolecules responsible for the fine tuning of immune/cellular – homeostasis.
