Fadia Kamal,  PhD
Dr. Kamal is an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopedics at the College of Medicine at Pennsylvania State University. She received her Pharmacy Degree from Beirut Arab University, Lebanon in 2000, after which she was awarded a full scholarship for her PhD that was received from Niigata University, Japan in 2010. She completed her postdoctoral training between the University of Rochester and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in 2015, followed by her first faculty position at the Center for Musculoskeletal Research at the University of Rochester. In 2017, Dr. Kamal started her lab at Pennsylvania State University, she is the recipient of several honors and awards as a young investigator. Dr. Kamal enjoys mentoring trainees at all levels, from undergraduate to graduate students, research associates, postdocs, and medical students. She believes in a tailored mentoring approach to achieve the career goals of each trainee; and takes pride in trainees’ achievements and career progress.

Vengadeshprabhu Karuppa Gounder, PhD
Dr. Vengadesh is a postdoctoral research scholar Dr. Kamal’s lab. Vengadesh earned his Pharmacy Degree in India, then his PhD from Niigata University in Japan. During his PhD and current training in Dr. Kamal’s Lab, Dr. Karuppa Gounder has accumulated valuable experience in both in vivo animal experiments and in vitro techniques. He has a long list of publications as first and co-author , and holds several honors and awards. Vengadesh is the leader on several studies that investigate novel disease pathways and therapeutic approaches in osteoarthritis.

Lab Manager: Gina Deiter, BS

Gina earned her BS in Biology from Millersville University. She is a long-time research technologist at the College of Medicine having worked in several laboratories before joining Dr. Kamal’s lab in 2019. In addition to lab management and personnel training, Gina studies signaling pathways that regulate chondrocyte hypertrophy and synovial inflammation in osteoarthritis.

Natalie Yoshioka, MS
Natalie received her BA in Biology at UMBC, and earned a Masters in Biomedical Visualization at UIC shortly before enrolling in the Anatomy PhD program at Penn State. She is currently working in Dr. Kamal’s lab, exploring the developmental effects of PTH1R regulation of the embryonic and postnatal growth plate.

Amy (Yang) Thompson, BS

Amy is a Fourth  year medical student. She received her BS in Kinesiology at West Point. Amy joined the lab in 2020 to research changes in the osteoarthritic bone under different treatments.

Ahmed Abdeen, BA

Ahmed is a Third year Medical Student. He graduated with BA in Professional Science with a concentration in Chemistry from VCU. Previously involved in Chemical Engineering research with a focus on drug delivery. Ahmed joined the lab in 2020, where he is investigating the role and therapeutic targeting of a novel GPCR in osteoarthritis.

Juliet Chung, BS

Juliet is a Third year Medical Student. She is originally from North Jersey and attended Lehigh University where she majored in Neuroscience and minored in Religion. She graduated from Lehigh University in 2018 and moved to Philadelphia for two years. During those two years, Juliet worked as a research technician in the Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery Department at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 2020, she matriculated at Penn State College of Medicine, and joined the Kamal Lab to study novel therapeutics in osteoarthritis pain.

William Pinamont, MSc
William is a Second year medical student. He  joined the lab in 2017 to complete his Anatomy Masters program research. He graduated in 2019, after which he joined the lab as a research associate, where he studied the regulation of PTH signaling in osteoarthritis, and worked on establishing an in vivo imaging model for osteoarthritis in mice. In August 2021, William re-joined the lab as a first year medical student.

Kulsoom Durrani, MS

Kulsoom is a Second year medical student. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in Public Health Studies and from Bloomberg School of Public Health with a MS in Public Health. Kulsoom joined the lab in 2021, and is investigating novel therapeutics for treatment of osteoarthritis.

Andreas Bouboukas, BS

Andy joined the lab back in August 2020 amidst all of the Covid-19 chaos. In a short time, Andy started learning about chondrocyte biology and osteoarthritis, and mastered histopathological and histomorphometric techniques that he utilizes to quantify the effect of novel osteoarthritis therapeutics. In August 2021, Andy completed his Biology BS Degree at Penn State Harrisburg. He plans to apply to medical school in the near future to pursue a career in medicine.

Lab Alumni

Adeel Ahmad, MD

Adeel graduated in 2021, he is currently pursuing a fellowship in General Surgery at Penn State. Adeel completed his MSR in the Dr. Kamal’s lab. His work focused on studying GPCR regulation in osteoarthritis, which he presented at scientific conferences, and culminated in two publications. Adeel was awarded the Medical Student Research Recognition Award for his research in the lab.

Gregory Young, BS

Greg joined the lab as a technician in 2017 after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He was particularly interested in the lab’s translational research and development of novel therapeutics for osteoarthritis. His work culminated in two publications and several conference presentations. Greg left the lab in 2019 to join the PhD program in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy where his research focuses on identifying multiple pathological pathways in alcoholic liver disease and fatty liver disease. Outside of the lab, Greg enjoys long distance running, playing board games, and spending quality time with his three dogs. Greg’s current professional email address is Gmy7@pitt.edu