Louisiana Research Day Program Book 2025

Program Moderator

Program Moderator

Supporters

Mark A. Sanders, DO, JD, MPH, LLM, MS, FACOFP, FACLM Dean, Louisiana Campus VCOM

Pawel Michalak, PhD Associate Dean for Biomedical Affairs & Research, Louisiana Campus VCOM

Mark A. Sanders, DO, JD, MPH, LLM, MS, FACOFP, FACLM, is the dean for VCOM Louisiana. Before becoming dean, Sanders held the position of associate dean for curriculum, assessment and medical education for VCOM-Louisiana, a role he had previously held at VCOM's Auburn campus. He continues to teach genetics, geriatrics, and ethics at VCOM. His research interests include topics in geriatrics, elder law, transitional care, chronic disease, and molecular genetics. He specializes in family medicine, geriatric medicine, legal medicine, and public health. He specifically caters to homebound elderly individuals and other adults with disabilities. Sanders graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in biology/ chemistry. He then obtained his medical degree from UNTHSC-TCOM and his law degree from Texas A&M College of Law (formerly Texas Wesleyan University). He then received a Master of Public Health degree from UNTHSC-SPH and a master's

in elder law from Stetson University College of Law. Most recently, he obtained a graduate degree in clinical molecular genetics from Northern Michigan University. Dr. Sanders is a fellow in the American College of Osteopathic Family Practice and in the American College of Legal Medicine. In addition, he serves on the textbook editorial committee for LEGAL MEDICINE 2023, written by the American College of Legal Medicine. He authored a chapter in the same textbook on the use of artificial intelligence in genetics. Dr. Sanders is married to Anada Gunn Sanders, JD, MPH, and they have three children: Sofia, Liam, and Emma Grace.

Pawel Michalak, PhD, serves as the associate dean for biomedical affairs and research for the VCOM-Louisiana campus. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Haifa in Israel. Michalak served as a professor at the VCOM Virginia campus, with a focus on comparative genomics, bioinformatics, and One Health, operating as head of the Integrative Genome Analysis Lab (IGAL) at the Center for One Health Research. His team has employed an integrative approach with a variety of molecular, computational, and modeling techniques, including NextGen sequencing, a high-throughput DNA sequencing technology, of entire genomes, epigenomes, and transcriptomes to establish a rigorous understanding of how complexity elaborates from genomes through gene regulatory networks, and how it evolves over generations in response to environmental stress and intragenomic challenges.

Michalak has worked at nine universities in four countries across three continents. He has published his research in one book, with a second currently in preparation. Additionally, Michalak has been credited as a contributor in multiple books, as well as approximately 70 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals, including “Cell,” “Science,” “Nature,” “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA” and “Proceedings of the Royal Society.” His research has been cited nearly 2000 times and popularized by various public media outlets.

Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, DO, FACOFP President VCOM

John Rocovich, Jr, JD, LLM Chairman VCOM

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2025 Research Recognition Day