Alistaire Ruggiero

2nd yr MMTS PhD Student – Matriculated 2018

Mentor(s): Kylie Kavanagh, DVO (Pathology – Comparative Medicine)

Program: Comparative Medicine is originally from Phoenix, AZ. She received her BA from Smith College in Northampton, MA. She is an avid horsewoman (has been riding all of her life and brought one of her horses here to NC when she moved) and is getting back into running. She is hoping to complete another half marathon around September.

Alistaire’s dissertation project is focused on the cellular characteristics and aspects of inflammation of adipose tissue that define metabolic unhealthiness in African Green vervet monkeys. As part of the project, she plans to evaluate how senescent cell clearance impacts systemic metabolic health in unhealthy lean and obese animals.