Michelle Harrison

Michelle Harrison is a Research Assistant Professor and Director of the Health & Integrative Physiology (HIP) Laboratory, a shared biochemistry lab housed within the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. Michelle manages and supervises graduate student, biochemistry-related research activities in the shared laboratory and she also pursues her own research interests. Michelle received her B.S. in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of British Columbia in Canada and then worked in a clinical laboratory setting for a number of years as a Medical Laboratory Technologist. A personal interest in exercise and health motivated her to return to graduate school so she pursued her M.S. and Ph.D. in Exercise Science here at the University of Texas at Austin. Michelle's global research interests revolve around investigations into the underlying causes of diseases with an inflammatory component. Her graduate work focused on cardiovascular disease and vascular function in at-risk populations including African Americans along with obese and older individuals. Her current emphasis is on investigating biomarkers that are predictive of the prognosis and/or progression of disease, with a specific focus on diabetes in both humans and animal models.