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Saima Riazuddin, PhD, MPH, MBA, MPH, MBA

Academic Title:

Professor

Primary Appointment:

Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery

Secondary Appointment(s):

BioChemistry&Molecular Biology

Administrative Title:

Co-Director for Academic Development

Additional Title:

Professor

Location:

HSF3, 670 West Baltimore St, Room 7183

Phone (Primary):

410-706-3798

Phone (Secondary):

410-706-3094

Education and Training

  • Lahore College of Women University, Pakistan, B.Sc., 1995
  • Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan, M. Sc., 1998
  • National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Pre-doctoral fellow*, 1999-2001
  • University of the Punjab, Pakistan, Ph.D. Molecular Genetics, 2001
  • National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rockville, MD, Post-doctoral research fellow, 2001-2005
  • NIDCD/NIH, Rockville, MD, National Research Council Research Associate, 2005-2006
  • NIDCD/NIH, Rockville, MD, NIH Research Fellow, 2006-2009
  • Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, M.P.H. Leadership Management and Policy, 2012
  • College of Business, University of Cincinnati, M.B.A. Business Administration, 2012

*PhD thesis research work was conducted at NIH, while course work was completed at the University of Punjab, Pakistan

Biosketch

Dr. Saima Riazuddin earned her PhD degrees from the University of Punjab, Pakistan. She completed her pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training at the National Institute for Deafness and Communication Disorders, NIDCD/NIH. In 2009 she joined the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio as an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and Human Genetics. She was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor and tenured in 2013. In 2014, Dr. Riazuddin joined the University of Maryland as an Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology and Biochemistry, where she was promoted to Professor in 2016.

Dr. Riazuddin's lab is engaged in inner ear and brain research. She utilizes, human genetics, mouse and zebrafish model systems to identify genes responsible for various inherited disorders in human. The results of her reserach are pulished in Nature genetics, Cell, Journal of Clinical Investigtation, PLoS genetics and Molecular Psychiatry.  Dr Riazuddin's scientific accomplishments have earned several national and international awards, including a Medal of Honor by the President of Pakistan.

Research/Clinical Keywords

Hearing loss, vestibular dysfunction, brain disorders, intellectual disability, molecular genetics, cell biology.

Highlighted Publications

Riazuddin S, Castelein CM, Ahmed ZM, Lalwani AK, Mastroianni MA, Naz S, Smith TN, Liburd NA, Friedman TB, Griffith AJ, Riazuddin S, Wilcox ER. Dominant modifier DFNM1 suppresses recessive deafness DFNB26. Nature Genetics. 2000; 26: 431-34 (featured on cover).

Wilcox ER, Burton QL, Naz S, Riazuddin S, Smith TN, Ploplis B, Belyantseva IA, Ben-Yosef T, Liburd NA, Morell RJ, Kachar B, Wu DK, Griffith AJ, Riazuddin S, Friedman TB. Mutations in the gene encoding tight junction claudin-14 cause autosomal recessive deafness DFNB29. Cell. 2001;104:165-72.

Riazuddin S, Belyantseva I, Giese A, Lee K, Indzhykulian AA, Nandamuri SP, Yousaf R, Sinha GP, Lee S, Terrell D, Hegde RS, Ali RA, Anwar S, Andrade-Elizondo PB, Sirmaci A, Parise LV, Basit S, Wali A, Ayub M, Ansar M, Ahmad W, Khan SN, Akram J, Tekin M, Riazuddin S, Cook T, Buschbeck EK, Frolenkov GI, Leal SM, Friedman TB, Ahmed ZM. Alterations of the CIB2 calcium- and integrin-binding protein, cause Usher syndrome type 1J and nonsyndromic deafness DFNB48. Nature Genetics. 2012; 44:1265-71. (Featured in Editor’s Choice of Science Journal).

Simon M, Richard EM, Wang X, Shahzad M, Haung VH, Qaiser TA, Potluri P, Mahl SE, Davila A, Nazli S, Hancock S, Yu M, Gargus J, Chang R, Al-sheqaih N, Newmnan WG, Abdenur J, Starr A, Hedge R, Dorn T, Busch A, Park E, Wu J, Schwenzer H, Flierl A, Florentz C, Sissler M, Khan SN, Li R, Guan MX, Friedman TB, Wu DK, Procaccio V, Riazuddin S, Wallace DC, Ahmed ZM, Huang T  Riazuddin S*.  Mutations of human NARS2, encoding the mitochondrial asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase, cause nonsyndromic deafness and Leigh syndrome. PLOS Genetics. 2015; 11(3):e1005097

Riazuddin S*, Hussain M, de Brouwer AP, Razzaq A, Ahmed ZM, Zahoor MY, Basra AR, Rasheed F, Azhar A, Khan AA, Khan SN, Bokhoven HV*, Riazuddin S*. Exome sequencing identified 30 candidate genes for recessive intellectual disability. Molecular Psychiatry. 2016

Nayak G, Lee S, Yousaf R, Edlemann S, Trincot C, Van Itallie CM, Sinha G, Rafeeq M, Jones SM, Belyantseva I, Anderson J, Forge A, Frolenkov GI, Riazuddin S*. Tricellulin deficiency affects tight junction architecture and cochlear hair cells. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2013; 123:4036-49..

 

Additional Publication Citations

Research Interests

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