Darlene Dixon | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | New Jersey, US |
Alma mater | Tuskegee University Michigan State University |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Toxicologic pathology, veterinary medicine |
Institutions | National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences |
Darlene Dixon is an American veterinary scientist and toxicologic pathologist researching the pathogenesis/carcinogenesis of tumors affecting the reproductive tract of rodents and humans and assessing the role of environmental and endogenous hormonal factors in the growth of these tumors. She is a senior investigator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Dixon was born in New Jersey. [1] She earned a B.S. at Tuskegee University where she completed a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) degree in 1982. Dixon earned a Ph.D. in 1985 at Michigan State University. She conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at The Rockefeller University, Laboratory Animal Research Center. Dixon received her board certification from the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) in 1987. [2]
Dixon joined the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in 1987. She works as a veterinary scientist and toxicologic pathologist. As of September 2019, she is a senior investigator in the NIEHS National Toxicology Program's Molecular Pathogenesis Group. [2] [1]
Dixon is active in the North Carolina Women of Color Research Network (NC WoCRN). She mentors as part of the NIEHS Scholars Connect Program (NSCP), which offers a year-long apprenticeship program to students from historically black colleges and universities, as well as other area academic institutions. [3]
Dixon’s group focuses on defining the pathogenesis/carcinogenesis of tumors affecting the reproductive tract of rodents and humans and assessing the role of environmental and endogenous hormonal factors in the growth of these tumors. [2]
The group has used cell lines, 3D cultures, archival mouse tissue, and human clinical samples to study the influence of membrane-associated estrogen receptors and growth factors/receptors and their signaling pathways on uterine leiomyoma (fibroid) growth. Group members use leiomyoma and patient-matched myometrial samples, clinical tissues taken from cycle-staged, premenopausal women participating in the NIEHS George Washington University Fibroid Study. The rodent tissue samples are either from in-house studies or National Toxicology Program archives. [2]
Dixon and her group seek to understand the basic molecular mechanisms of disease, which may lead to therapeutic interventions that generate alternative non-invasive treatments for clinical fibroids and other diseases affecting the female reproductive tract. [2]