Meghan Smith, PhD joined the Health Sciences Department in February 2024 as an assistant teaching professor. She earned her PhD in human bioenergetics from Colorado State University, where she investigated cellular and gene expression changes that occur with aging and exercise. Smith is interested in how cellular aging leads to cognitive and physical dysfunction in older adults. Her studies include a combination of human research, basic wet-lab science and multi-omics data analysis. Smith’s current research interests include healthy aging, exercise, inflammation and vascular function. In her free time, she loves mountain biking and spending time outside with her two dogs.

Professional Society

Selected Publications

M.E. Smith, D. Wahl, A.N. Cavalier, C.M. McEntee, A.D. Bryan, D.R. Seals, T.J. LaRocca. (2024). Repetitive element transcript accumulation is associated with inflammaging in humans. Geroscience.

M.E. Smith, T.J. LaRocca, K.A. Freeberg, D.H. Craighead, A.D. Bryan, D.R. Seals. (2023). Novel circulating transcriptomic predictors of changes in maximal aerobic capacity in response to endurance exercise training in healthy women. Physiological Genomics. *Recognized by American Physiological Society as a high-impact paper. https://doi.org/10.1152/physiolgenomics.00017.2023

D. Wahl, M.E. Smith, C.M. McEntee, A.N. Cavalier, S.C. Osburn, S.D. Burke, R.A. Grant, D.N. Nerguizian, D.S. Lark, C.D. Link, T.J. LaRocca. (2023). The reverse transcriptase inhibitor 3TC protects against age-related cognitive dysfunction. Aging Cell. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13798

E.K. Woolf, J.D. Terwoord, N.S. Litwin, A.R. Vasquez, S.Y. Lee, N. Ghanem, K.A. Mitchell, B.T. Smith, L.E. Grabos, N.B. Ketelhut, N.P. Bachman, M.E. Smith, M. LeSayec, S. Rao, C.L. Gentile, T.L. Weir, A. Rodriguez-Mateos, D.R. Seals, F.A. Dinenno, S.A. Johnson. (2023). Daily blueberry consumption for 12 weeks improves endothelial function in postmenopausal women with above-normal blood pressure through reductions in oxidative stress: a randomized controlled trial. Food & Function. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3FO00157A

D. Wahl, A.N. Cavalier, M.E. Smith, D.R. Seals, T.J. LaRocca. (2020). Healthy aging interventions reduce repetitive element transcripts. Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences. PMID: 33257951

Grant Participation

Center for Healthy Aging IN-REACH Pilot Funding Program “The Healthspan Van: A mobile research unit for identifying mediators of health and aging across diverse Colorado communities”
Role: CO-PI
Funded: $50,000

Research Interests

Aging, exercise, inflammation, vascular function, multi-omics

PhD, Human Bioenergetics, 2020 – 2023
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO

MS, Health and Exercise Science, 2018 – 2020
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO

BS, Health Sciences, 2014 – 2018
Minor: Nutrition, Concentration: Exercise Science
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA