Faculty Profile: Kara Sawarynski, Ph.D.

Kara Sawarynski, Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences Department at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine

Dr. Sawarynski has held a Master Educator position at OUWB’s Biomedical Sciences department since 2012. She teaches cell biology and works towards continued curriculum development and integration, and developing a molecular and cellular biotechnology outreach program. She is also working to further technology use within the classroom, and serves as an admissions interviewer and faculty advisor for PENumbra, the medical student literary journal. Dr. Sawarynski received her Bachelors degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Lee Honors College of Western Michigan University. She completed her doctoral work in Cancer Biology at Wayne State University School of Medicine and Karmanos Cancer Institute. She has had an active research career spanning molecular and cellular biology, cancer biology, and infectious diseases within a variety of model systems. Prior to joining OU’s faculty, Dr. Sawarynski was a faculty member at Lawrence Technological University’s Department of Natural Sciences, a Research Associate in Beaumont Hospital’s Department of Infectious Diseases Research Lab, and a Clinical Basic Science faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at OUWB School of Medicine. Research experiences have included using current functional genomics and molecular biology techniques to investigate therapeutic hypersensitivity in pathogenic yeast. She also completed research on the characterization of a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor during meiosis in yeast, as well as work within human tissue culture model systems, and transmission electron and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Dr. Sawarynski is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Team-Based Learning Collaborative, and the International Association of Medical Science Educators.