Dr. Torry A. Tucker serves as the Associate Dean for Research in the UT Tyler School
of Medicine. He is also an Associate Professor of Cellular and Molecular Biology.
Dr. Tucker was trained as a cell biologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
His training focused on cell types responsible for lung disease progression, specifically
cystic fibrosis. He came to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler
as a postdoctoral fellow in 2007 and joined the faculty in 2009. At UTHSCT, Dr. Tucker
has focused on understanding the role of pleural mesothelial cells and lung fibroblasts
in lung injury progression. He has developed several novel animal models which are
critical to understanding disease etiology and evaluating diverse treatment strategies.
His current research investigates the causes of pleural scarring and subsequent fibrosis.
He also studies pathways involved in the development and progression of interstitial
lung diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.