Dr. Atena Zahedi, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice, is one of the newest additions to the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty.
At ten years old, Dr. Zahedi moved to La Crescenta, CA from Iran. She went on to graduate from the University of Southern California (USC) with a BS in Biomedical Engineering and earn both a master’s degree and PhD in Bioengineering from UC Riverside.
In 2019, she was awarded the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship and joined UCI as a researcher in the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. She led translational studies on human neural stem cells focused on mitochondrial bioenergetic enhancement to improve the efficacy of stem cell transplantation in spinal cord injury.
“My work involved developing a cellular phenotyping method through exosome transcriptomics sequencing and in vivo experiments, which predicts the efficacy of candidate neural stem cell lines and screens neurotherapeutic drugs,” she said.
As part of the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty, Dr. Zahedi will conduct research focused on personalized medicine for neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s) and inflammatory conditions. Through patient-specific stem-cell models, she investigates how mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation contribute to disease development.
“UCI is not only a leader in neuroscience and stem-cell research but also offers a collaborative environment that aligns perfectly with my translational work in personalized medicine,” said Dr. Zahedi, who shared her excitement about future opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
“The Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice provides a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between research and clinical application, especially in developing patient-specific therapies for neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to integrate my expertise in stem-cell modeling and mitochondrial biology with clinical insights to bring innovative treatments to patients with neurodegenerative diseases. I am passionate about fostering a research environment that encourages collaboration, mentorship, and translational impact, and I am eager to contribute to the forward-thinking community at UCI.”
