Officers

Current Officers 

President: Tahereh Ziglari: tahereh.ziglari@umconnect.umt.edu

Photo of President Tahereh Ziglari

Tahereh earned her PhD degree in Mycology from University of Tehran, Iran. She joined the graduate school in Toxicology program at the University of Montana in Fall 2014 and currently works under supervision of Prof. Andrij Holian in the Center for Environmental Health Science. Her research is focused on the interaction between nanoparticles and cell membrane. 

 Treasurer: Sascha Stump: sascha.stump@umontana.edu

Sascha

Sascha earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Montana in Spring 2012 and continued research he began as an undergraduate in Prof. Edward Rosenberg’s organometallic chemistry laboratory for a year following graduation.  Sascha joined the Toxicology graduate program at the University of Montana as a PhD. Student in Fall 2013 and currently works with his advisor, Prof. Howard Beall, in the Center for Environmental Health Sciences.  In collaboration with Prof. Nicholas Natale’s laboratory group, his research is centered on characterizing the mechanism of action of a novel class of quadruplex DNA binding small molecules, anthracenyl isoxazole amides (AIMs), which have been shown to exhibit significant toxicity in various tumor cell lines. 

Secretary: Paige Fletcher: paige.fletcher@umconnect.umt.edu

Photo of Secretary Paige Fletcher

I am originally from Connecticut where I received my bachelor’s degree at Central Connecticut State University in Biomolecular Science. After graduating, I worked at Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC); which is a BSL 3 research facility located in New York. I worked at PIADC for a few years; first within the Agricultural Research Services branch and then in the Transboundary Animal Disease Research & Development branch which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security. I worked on projects to develop potential vaccines by creating recombinant viral strains & testing the amount of virulence for Classical Swine Fever, African Swine Fever, and Foot and Mouth Disease viruses. After gaining much experience on the island, I decided it was time to further my education by accepting the University of Montana’s offer of being a part of their Toxicology PhD Program. I wanted a program where the people genuinely care about their graduate students & the main focus is research-oriented. I have found all of those things at the University of Montana & I am currently undergoing lab rotations within my first year as a PhD student here.

Vice President and Public Relations:  Jed Syrenne:  jed.syrenne@umontana.edu 

I am born and raised here in Montana. I am an undergraduate currently studying Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience and also pursuing a minor in Mathematics. I work under Dr. Grimes at the University of Montana. My area of study regards the effects of knocking out PAG-1, a scaffold protein interacting with SRC family kinases, on the differentiation of human neuroblastoma cells. I have also worked for a few years under Dr. Tony Ward as an intern where the primary focus of my work was the inflammatory effects in the lungs of PM 2.5 and course fraction PM. I grade and tutor the Honors Calculus II courses here at the U of M. I am continuing my studies at the University of Montana and plan on attending grad school to pursue my intersts in neuronal signal transduction.  

Faculty advisor: Dr. Tony Ward: tony.ward@umontana.edu 

Tony Ward is an Assistant Professor at The University of Montana’s, Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS). He has both a B.S. (Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas) and M.S. (The University of Houston – Clear Lake, Houston, Texas) in Environmental Science, and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The University of Montana in 2001. Dr. Ward also worked for several years as an environmental consultant in the Houston and Seattle areas specializing in air quality issues. In addition to conducting research within CEHS, he is also a core faculty member in The University of Montana’s School of Public and Community Health Sciences, and is an adjunct faculty with The University of Montana’s Department of Chemistry.

For more information about our chapter, joining AWMA, or any of our events, please contact any of our officers via e-mail.

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