Awards

Titled Professor - 2020 - 2024

Paul Stark Professor of Pharmacology

About Michelle L. Block

Michelle L. Block earned her B.S. in psychology from Iowa State University in 1994. Upon graduation, she continued her education at Pennsylvania State University where she earned her Ph.D. in genetics in 2002. She completed her postdoctoral training and research at NIEHS/NIH in 2007. She joined the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) faculty in 2017 as an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. She was promoted to full professor and earned the additional, honorary title of Paul Stark Professor of Pharmacology in 2020.

Prior to joining the IUSM faculty, Block served as an assistant and later associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research team focuses on identifying environmental and endogenous disease triggers that initiate deleterious activation of the brain’s innate immune cells (microglia), revealing the redox mechanisms through which microglia cause neuron damage, and applying these findings towards halting chronic neuropathology in neurodegenerative diseases and neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Gulf War Illness.

Throughout her robust teaching and research career, Block has been honored with numerous awards and accolades. She has earned multiple awards from the NIH, including the Outstanding New Environmental Scientist Award, the Pathway to Independence Award, the President's Award for Postdoctoral Research, and more. She is a member of several scientific and professional societies, including the International Neurotoxicology Association, the Society of Toxicology, and the Society for Free Radical Biology & Medicine, among others.