Meet the Physiologists-in-Residence

Mrs. Richards-Williams, a native of Montgomery, AL, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics. She received her B.S. from Clark Atlanta University.

Clintoria’s research focuses on examining how ATP and zinc control insulin secretion from β-cells of the pancreas in the progression of diabetes, a leading cause of death in this country. Her graduate work is supported by a grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and a Ruth L. Kirschsten NRSA Pre-doctoral Fellowship.

Clintoria’s life long interest in science truly bloomed with her first research experience at Clark Atlanta University. Learning to translate lecture concepts into relevant experiments was very satisfying and further sparked her interest in research. At the end of her junior year, she was awarded a MARC U*STAR fellowship with the mission to prepare underrepresented minority students for a future in biomedical research. Clintoria considers this fellowship experience a significant milestone in her scientific development.

To provide the same support and encouragement to other students, Clintoria found additional ways to achieve this end. The summer after college graduation, she served as a teaching assistant in the Upward Bound Outreach program that was tailored to minority high school students who were interested in majoring in science during college. Prior to entering graduate school, she taught physical science to minority 9th graders at the high school level for a year. Her goal was to make science fun and relevant. As a graduate student, Clintoria served as a mentor in a local outreach program [UAB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship] for a minority high school student considering a science career. The experience was enjoyable and very rewarding for her.

Clintoria wishes to continue in her post-doctoral years evolving as both a scientist and as an educator. Her career objectives are to pair the excitement of the research bench with the ability to communicate and share this excitement with young minds. She believes the love of science must be cultivated early and nurtured long. Clintoria’s ultimate long term goal is to lead a biomedical research lab that assists in the training of new minority researchers and provides a platform for outreach to young students considering a career in science.

Outside the laboratory, Clintoria is a devoted wife and mother, who gives her all to her family. She is the head cheerleader of her eldest son’s baseball team.

Dr. Clark, a native of Albuquerque, NM, is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She received a B.S. in Veterinary Science, and a Ph.D. in Physiological Sciences, both from the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Jessica studies the role of the intestine in the pathophysiology of sepsis. Sepsis is the leading cause of death in critically ill patients, and it is thought the intestine acts as a “motor” of the systemic inflammatory response. She studies how treating septic mice with a protein called epidermal growth factor prevents cells from dying in the intestine and also keeps the animals alive. This may be an exciting therapeutic agent for treating septic patients.

For as long as Jessica can remember, she has always been interested in science. Her high school marine biology teacher was the one who really encouraged her to think about doing science as a career. He would take the time to give her extra information and keep her curiosity when she would get excited about something. It was the one thing Jessica felt truly passionate about - she was comfortable studying science, and she enjoyed learning anything and everything about it. Jessica likes to ask the question “why?” and explains that science is a great field where we get to explore “why” every day!

Jessica became involved with biomedical research the summer between her freshman and sophomore year in college through the undergraduate biology research program. She started working in a lab over the summer and continued there throughout her college career. As a pre-vet major, she took her first anatomy & physiology course her junior year. She became interested in physiology while taking an animal reproduction course where they did hands-on lab work. Jessica was fascinated with how the body worked and knew that regardless of her career choice, she wanted to study physiology. She had always been interested in medicine, and taking the physiology course helped her realize that she loved learning about how our bodies work and enjoyed research. As a graduate student, Jessica also came to realize how much she enjoys academia, combining both research and teaching.

Working with students is a great benefit for her because Jessica loves getting others excited about science. She volunteers for the Young Scientist Program at Washington University School of Medicine. Through this program, she gets to do a lot of community outreach with high school students and high school science teachers. In addition to attending the APS Science Teaching Forum this summer, she is working with a high school junior for 8 weeks in the lab. Jessica also likes to volunteer to be a science fair judge and loves to see what kids come up with!

Jessica loves baseball (go Cardinals!!!), and likes to scrapbook, go for walks in the forest, take her dog to go swimming in the lake, and spend time with her husband.

Dr. Benoit was appointed in 2001 as the Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of Pharmacology, Physiology & Therapeutics at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. A native of south central Louisiana (Opelousas), Joey holds a Bachelors Degrees in Biology & Chemistry from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, a Bachelors Degree in Basic Medical Science from the University of South Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Basic Medical Science with an emphasis in Physiology from the University of South Alabama. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in microvascular physiology at Texas A&M University, and also studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA) and the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). Dr. Benoit has served on faculty at the Louisiana State University Health Science Center at Shreveport (1987-95), and the University of South Alabama (1995-2001) where he attained the rank of Professor and served as the Director of the Graduate Program in Basic Medical Sciences. During his tenure at L.S.U. he held an adjunct appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Louisiana Tech University.

Joey’s research interests center on cardiovascular consequences of chronic portal hypertension, the pathophysiology of arterial hypertension and the role of the lymphatic system in the prevention of interstitial edema. He has published over 200 research related papers, chapters and abstracts. His research programs have been funded by the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association along with several other foundations and contracts. To date, he has served as the research supervisor for forty-nine undergraduate & graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and visiting scholars. Dr. Benoit is a member of the Council for Accreditation for the Association for Assessment & Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, International (AAALAC, International).

Joey and his wife, Caprice, have a seven-year old daughter. In his spare time, Joey enjoys a variety of outdoor family activities, digital photography, and woodworking.