Patricia E. Molina, MD, PhD
Professor of Physiology
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
New Orleans, Louisiana

Speaker Topic: Neurobiology of the Stress Response; Neuroendocrine-Immune Interactions

In addition to her professorship, Dr. Molina is the Director of Education for the Alcohol Research Center at LSUHSC. She received her M.D. from the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala and her Ph.D. in Physiology from LSU Medical Center, New Orleans. Her research focuses on understanding the neuroendocrine and opiate mechanisms involved in modulation of hemodynamic, metabolic, and inflammatory responses to shock and trauma. Studies in her laboratory use conscious unrestrained rodents to investigate the compensatory mechanisms that are affected by stress, alcohol intoxication, and analgesic use during the period prior to or immediately following traumatic injury. Dr. Molina is particularly interested in understanding how host defense mechanisms are affected by the deranged neuroendocrine response to tissue injury and acute hemorrhagic shock.