Renã Robinson

Renã A. S. Robinson is a distinguished chemist whose career has significantly advanced the fields of proteomics and bioanalytical chemistry, with a focus on aging and neurodegenerative diseases. She received her B.S. in Chemistry with a business concentration from the University of Louisville in 2000 and her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, with a minor in Biochemistry, from Indiana University Bloomington in 2007 under advisor David E. Clemmer. Robinson completed postdoctoral training at the University of Kentucky as a Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellow and UNCF/Merck Postdoctoral Fellow with D. Allan Butterfield, investigating oxidative stress in Alzheimer’s disease. In 2009, she joined the University of Pittsburgh Department of Chemistry as an Assistant Professor, serving until 2017. During this period, she held additional roles as Faculty Member of the Biomedical Mass Spectrometry Center in the School of Medicine, Core Faculty Member of the Medical Scientist Training Program, and Associate Director of Outreach, Recruitment, and Education at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She maintains an adjunct appointment as Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh since 2017.

Since 2017, Robinson has been at Vanderbilt University, initially as Associate Professor of Chemistry and Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow, promoted to Professor and Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chair in 2022, with secondary appointments in the Department of Neurology and memberships in the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer’s Center, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, and Chemical Biology program. She also serves as Faculty Head of House for Murray House. Her research employs mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics and lipidomics to elucidate molecular mechanisms of age-related diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and sepsis, with emphasis on racial and ethnic disparities and peripheral organ contributions. Notable publications include “In vivo oxidative stress in brain of Alzheimer disease transgenic mice: requirement for methionine 35 in amyloid β-peptide of APP” (2010), “Redox proteomics in selected neurodegenerative disorders: from its infancy to future applications” (2012), “Mass spectrometry and redox proteomics: applications in disease” (2014), and “Proteomics Reveals Age-Related Differences in the Host Immune Response to Sepsis” (2014). Robinson has earned prestigious honors such as the Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award (2017), Chemical & Engineering News Talented Twelve Award (2016), NOBCChE Presidential Award (2018), Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Award for Research in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (2021), and multiple inclusions on The Analytical Scientist Power List. As president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, she promotes diversity in STEM through mentoring and outreach.

Professional Email: rena.as.robinson@vanderbilt.edu