David Katz *04 MOL
Scientist, Mentor, Father
Associate Professor of Cell Biology, Emory University
David Katz earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton, studying how the genome is organized with President Emeritus Shirley Tilghman. After Princeton, Katz moved to Emory University in the School of Medicine, where he pioneered how traits can be inherited without changes to the underlying DNA sequence in C. elegans and mice, and how this contributes to human diseases known as chromatinopathies. He currently serves on the international governing board for the C. elegans research community. His lab also discovered a critical mechanism through which the protein tau may cause neurodegeneration in the Alzheimer’s disease pathway. Throughout his career, Katz led major efforts to train the next generation of scientists, including co-establishing a nationally recognized course-based undergraduate research experience throughout the entire biology curriculum at Oglethorpe University and serving as director of the Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Program at Emory. Outside of being a research scientist, Katz co-hosts a popular Atlanta United soccer podcast, “ATL on Fire,” and co-owns the small Atlanta Emerald Hill Winery.