Wadie Daniel Mahauad Fernandez PhD

Wadie was born in Loja, Ecuador. During his Junior and Senior years of high school in Ecuador he leaned towards the sciences growing fascinated by his biology, physiology and anatomy classes. In 2007, Wadie came to the US for the first time as an exchange student to study English.

n 2008, Wadie entered Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD to pursue his Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Biology/PreMed. During his Junior year at Augustana, Wadie performed undergraduate research through the Sanford Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) where he studied the symbiotic relationship of oral bacteria under the guidance of Dr. Paul Egland (former UI Ph.D. graduate).

In 2012, Wadie was admitted to the Molecular and Cellular Biology program at The University of Iowa. A year later, Wadie began his thesis work exploring the role of antiviral factors in viral pathogenesis and breast cancer under the guidance of Dr. Chioma Okeoma.