Denise C. Cornelius, PhD

Denise C. Cornelius, PhD

Associate Professor

Department:
SOM-Pharmacology/Toxicology

Email:
dcornelius@umc.edu

Work Phone:
(601) 815-1551

Biography

Dr. Cornelius is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Pharmacology and the Director of Pre-Clinical Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Dr. Cornelius’s laboratory has research focus in cardiovascular physiology and immunophysioloy. Here laboratory has multiple lines of investigation with major focus on maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The foremost focus is related to understanding how immune system activation mechanistically promotes the pathogenesis of hypertension and fetal growth restriction during preeclampsia. Using multiple experimental models of preeclampsia, Dr. Cornelius’s lab investigates the renal and vascular mechanisms during preeclampsia and how they are influenced by inflammatory and cytotoxic immune cells and mediators. A second line of investigation is related to understanding how cardiac adaptations or lack there of during pregnancy may lead to placental insufficiency and preeclampsia pathophysiology, particularly during early onset preeclampsia.

Dr. Cornelius is currently an Editorial Board member of Hypertension and American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology journals. She also serves as a reviewer for a number of journals including Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association, American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory and Integrative Physiology, and numerous others. She has published over 80 peer reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and editorials in leading journals for the field of hypertension research and cardiovascular physiology.

Dr. Cornelius serves in multiple leadership capacities. She currently serves on the Americna Heart Association's Council on Hypertension Leadership Committee and the American Physiological Society's Financial Committee and. She is a standing member of the NIH Environmental Determinants of Disease Study section and as previous Chair of the AHA Fellowship Grant Review Panel. At the institutional level, Dr. Cornelius currently serves as the Director of the Graduate Program in Clinical Investigation, Director of the ImmunoAssay Core of the Pharmacology Clinical Research Core, and Co-Director of the MCCTR Mentor Academy. She is also and a member of numerous institutional committees including the SOM Promotions and Tenure Committee, Research Compliance Committee and Research Advisory Committee. Dr. Cornelius lectures in the medical, dental, and graduate school courses, and serves as a research mentor for trainees at all levels.

Dr. Cornelius has received several awards throughout her career including the UNCF-Merck Graduate Dissertation Science Research Fellowship, the American Physiological Society Minority Travel Award, the American Physiological Society Water and Electrolyte Homeostasis Postdoctoral Research with Distinction Award, and the American Heart Association’s Council on Hypertension New Investigator’s Award. She was selected as UMMC's Early Career Investigator (2019), the WEH Section New Investigator of the Year (2020) and the GWIMS Early Career Rising Star (2020) and MidCareer Faculty Award (2023).

Education

University of Mississippi Medical Center, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Physiology/Pharmacology2015
University of Mississippi Medical Center, PhD, Microbiology/Immunology2012
University of Mississippi Medical Center, MS, Biomedical Sciences2010
Howard University, BS, Biology2006

Specialty Certification Licensure

Certification, Data Management in Clinical Research07/2023 - Present

Current Positions

Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology / Toxicology09/2022 - Present
Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine09/2022 - Present
Director of Immuno-Assay Core, School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology / Toxicology09/2022 - Present
Director of Pre-Clinical Research, School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine07/2015 - Present
The University of Mississippi Medical Center
Jackson, Mississippi 39216

Academic Appointments or Other Previous Appointments

Associate Professor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine07/2021 - 09/2021
Associate Professor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology / Toxicology07/2021 - 09/2022
Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine09/2017 - 06/2021
Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology / Toxicology09/2017 - 06/2021
Instructor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology / Toxicology07/2015 - 08/2017
Instructor, University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine07/2015 - 08/2017