Dr. Katie Hixon is an Assistant Professor of Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where she has served since January 2022. She was born and raised in Iowa, where she received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Iowa. She then earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Saint Louis University and completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, where she was awarded the NIH F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award. Dr. Hixon's lab is currently funded by an NIH R01 award investigating how irradiated craniofacial bone can be restored through targeted biomaterial and cellular interventions. Her research combines biomaterials engineering with cellular senescence biology to develop novel dental, oral, craniofacial, and musculoskeletal tissue engineering and regenerative medicine strategies, with a particular focus on understanding and overcoming the biological barriers that prevent healing in damaged or irradiated tissue.

Dr. Afton Limberg is a first year postdoc and a recent Ph.D. graduate from Dartmouth College. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and spent five years as a research technologist at the Mayo Clinic before beginning her graduate studies. Her research focuses on tendon aging, orthopedic biomaterials, and STEM outreach and education. Outside the lab, Afton enjoys skiing, mountain biking, backpacking, and hiking.