On May 21, 2026, the University of Michigan Board of Regents approved promotions for 12 Department of Pathology Faculty. Their new appointments take effect September 1, 2026.
When Dr. Sara Varadarajan stepped into her new faculty role on April 1, it marked a professional milestone in her scientific journey. Her path has been shaped by curiosity, resilience, and a deep commitment to understanding how tissues heal and restore balance after injury. Most recently, Varadarajan received a prestigious NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
By Lynn McCain From a young age in India, Amol Mhetre, PhD, was fascinated by organic chemistry, not just as a subject but as a way to understand how molecules behave in real biological systems and to develop new therapeutics to treat disease. That curiosity has carried him across continents and into a career at the interface of chemistry, biology, and translational drug discovery. In March 2026, Mhetre was promoted to Research Investigator in the University of Michigan Department of Pathology, where his work focuses on the design and synthesis of novel small‑molecule inhibitors with