Initiative for Environmental-Health Disparities and Medicine
LaMonica Stewart
Dr. LaMonica Stewart is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Biology. Since joining the Meharry faculty in 2004, Dr. Stewart has primary performed research and been involved in the training of Ph.D. graduate students. Her current research projects examine the regulation of prostate cancer growth and progression by compounds that activate the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARg). Her laboratory uses human prostate cancer cell lines and xenograft mouse models to define the mechanisms by which PPARg agonists inhibit tumor cell proliferation and invasion. The information gained from these studies will be used to identify new treatment strategies for early and late stage prostate cancer.
Dr. Stewart is expanding her research program to include studies that examine the effect of PPARg ligands on other diseases of the prostate and urogenital system. As part of the MMC-VU ARCH consortium program, Dr. Stewart is studying whether PPARg ligands modulate the sensitivity of bladder tissue to environmental contaminants.
Dr. Stewart is a 1991 magna cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, where she earned a B.S. in Biochemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1996. Following her doctoral training, Dr. Stewart completed postdoctoral fellowships at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD and Baylor College of Medicine.