Lacy M. Alexander, Ph.D., FACSM. is a Professor of Kinesiology and a Faculty Affiliate for the Center for Healthy Aging at Penn State University.  She completed her bachelors and masters degrees in Human Physiology at the University of Oregon and her doctoral degree at Penn State in Kinesiology. Her research examines in vivo and in vitro mechanisms of vascular dysfunction in humans with accelerated cardiovascular disease risk.  She and her research team have developed and validated the human cutaneous circulation as a powerful model for examining mechanisms underlying microvascular dysfunction in health and disease. She has also published extensively in the area of human temperature regulation. To date, she has contributed >100 publications to the field of human integrative physiology and her work has been cited 5400 times.  Her work is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Dairy Council, and other private industry sources. She is one of the Principle Investigators of the HERStudy. She is the recipient of several awards including the Pattishall Outstanding Research Achievement Award, the American Physiological Society (APS) Environmental and Exercise Physiology (EEP) New Investigator Award, the APS Cardiovascular Early Investigator Research Recognition Award, and the EEP Section Impact Award. She is the incoming Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Applied Physiology on the board of trustees for the American College of Sports Medicine and is an APS Councilor.   Lacy's favorite part of working in science is the creativity of the scientific process and seeing her trainees being successful.  In her spare time Lacy loves to spend time with her two Portugese Water Dogs, Patsy and Ruthie, and riding her Peloton bike. 

Sue Slimak R.N. is the Research Coordinator and Research Nurse for the HER Study.  She has been working with Dr. Alexander’s research group since 2010.  Before that, her experience is in cardiac, psych and clinic nursing.  She has always had a love for science and enjoys getting to meet all the people who come through the lab in studies.  When not at work, she enjoys time in the outdoors and most recently spending time with her granddaughter. 

Auni Williams is a doctoral student in the Kinesiology Department of Penn State University. She came to Penn State from Kansas State University where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s in Kinesiology, completing her master’s thesis on the nervous system’s control of blood pressure in an animal model of peripheral artery disease.  She is passionate about women’s health and cardiovascular disease research, making her a great fit for the HERStudy. Auni enjoys reading, hanging out with her coworkers/friends, and hiking, and hopes to complete the Pennsylvania section of the Appalachian Trail before completing her Ph.D.

Virginia G. Content is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University in the Noll Laboratory. She completed her Master's work in the Alexander lab examining the effect of potent anti-inflammatory drugs in vascular function in healthy participants. Before that, Virginia completed a post-baccalaureate program at Mayo Clinic. She completed her B.S. in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida, where she was a McNair Scholar. Virginia aspires to be a research physiologist to conduct research in women, specifically Non-Hispanic Black women, to understand mechanisms of blood vessel health in this group. During her free time, she loves to sing and write music of her own!