Dr. Alan Wells is a member and the head of Cell Biology at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Within the University of Pittsburgh, he is a Thomas J Gill III Professor of Pathology and the Vice-Chairman of the Department of Pathology. In addition, Dr. Wells is the Medical Director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) CSLI, a Professor of Bioengineering (second appointment), and the Staff Pathologist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Wells holds an A.B. in Biochemistry from Brown University (1979) and received his D.M.S. in tumor Biology from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1982. Returning to Providence, Rhode Island, he received his M.D. from Brown University in 1988. Following his studies, Dr. Wells completed a postdoctoral Fellow in Tumor Biology at the University of California in San Francisco, California, and a Residency in Laboratory Medicine at the University of California in San Diego, California.
Within his laboratory, Dr. Wells and his research team are aiming to gain a better understanding of cell migration in terms of how motility processes are regulated, and of how this regulation of migration plays a role in physiologic and pathologic situations. Due to the widespread implications of such research, Dr. Wells has been featured in several publications. Ultimately, the importance of his research flows from the provision of reinforcing insights and novel avenues for exploration into the basic signaling pathways, as well as functioning of entire organisms. Currently, Dr. Wells is concentrating his research efforts towards gaining further knowledge of the conditions of dysregulated (tumor invasion) and orchestrated (wound healing and organogenesis) cell motility.
Cellular and Molecular Pathology (CMP) Graduate Training Program
CONTACT INFORMATION
Dr. Alan Wells
Phone: (412) 647-7813
Email: wellsa@upmc.edu