Gloria Conover, PhD | 

Dr. Gloria Conover is the Director of Medical Student Research at Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center, College of Medicine. Dr. Conover received a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Wellesley College and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from Tufts University School of Medicine. After completing her postdoctoral research at the University of Arizona, she moved to Texas A&M University and was awarded a Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association while she was a Research Assistant Professor. She has 25-years of research experience in infectious and cardiac disease. As a graduate student, using a forward genetic screen in the respiratory microbe, L. pneumophila, she discovered the first mutant for an effector protein translocated inside macrophages. Using state-of-the art methodologies she defined the kinetic binding assembly of several pairs of cytoskeletal proteins. Her studies gave important insights for the molecular etiology of familial cardiomyopathy. She is an author of 30 poster papers, and 11 peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Conover has delivered 24 invited talks at national and international conferences, and has mentored 30 undergraduate and graduate students. She now directs the Medical Scholar Research Pathway Program. One of her office’s key goals is to match medical students with research opportunities that enhance their education and future careers as physicians.