Kathryn E. Wellen, PhD

Associate Professor

Department of Cancer Biology

University of Pennsylvania

Kathryn Wellen received her PhD from Harvard University, studying the role of inflammation in metabolic diseases.  She performed her postdoctoral work with Dr. Craig B. Thompson at the University of Pennsylvania, where she identified that histone acetylation is sensitive to the availability of the metabolite acetyl-CoA in mammalian cells.  In 2011, Dr. Wellen joined the Department of Cancer Biology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.  She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2017.  Her honors include selection as a Forbeck Scholar and a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences.  Her lab is broadly interested in links between cellular metabolism, signaling, and gene regulation in metabolic diseases and cancer.