Luisa Iruela-arispe MSc, PhD

Dr. Iruela-Arispe is professor and vice-chair of the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at UCLA. She is also the interim Director of the Molecular Biology Institute and Chair of the Molecular Biology Graduate Interdisciplinary Program. She teaches Cell Biology for undergraduate and graduate students in addition to coordinate efforts for the Vascular Biology Training Program at UCLA.

She received her Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil and followed post-doctoral training at the University of Washington in Seattle. From 1994-1998 she was Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and subsequently joined UCLA where she has been since 1998 advancing through the ranks and finally being recognized in 2010 as Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology.

Dr. Iruela-Arispe’s research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate angiogenesis during development and in pathological conditions. Her approach takes advantage of defined genetic models to ask mechanistic questions related to vascular morphogenesis and homeostasis. She has communicated her research in over 100 peer review papers, over 30 reviews and book chapters. Moreover, her accomplishments have been recognized in 2009 as the first recipient of the Judah Folkman award for the quality of her scientific contributions and the impact of her service on the vascular biology community at large.