About Joanna

Joanna Wardwell-Ozgo, Ph.D.

Joanna is an Assistant Professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department at Kennesaw State University. Joanna received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she began her research career in the lab of the late Dr. Don McEwen at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at UT Health Science Center-San Antonio. The McEwen lab used Drosophila to explore the decisions cells make when damaged by UV irradiation. Joanna earned her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology with a Cancer Biology focus from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in the lab of the late Ken Scott. In the Scott lab, Joanna investigated melanoma and pancreatic cancer genetics using vertebrate models. As a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ken Moberg in the Cell Biology Department at Emory University School of Medicine, Joanna returned to Drosophila and became interested in how hormones direct cellular and developmental signaling. As a postdoctoral fellow, Joanna was awarded a NIH K12 IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Emory FIRST Program and an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship. Outside of her love for her fly farm at KSU and teaching students the wonders of biology, Joanna enjoys reading, cooking and baking, gardening, and DIY home improvement projects. Joanna is a mom of three, and on the weekends you mostly likely will find Joanna at a travel softball tournament watching one of her daughters compete. She also has 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a cactus collection she brought with her from her home state of Texas.