Aliesha Danielle O'Raw

Dr. Garrett joined the Terasaki Institute in 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher, advancing to the core faculty team via her translational research and entrepreneurship efforts. Her research efforts focus on engineering approaches to the neurobiology of disease, particularly the gut-brain axis and the neuro-cancer-immune axis. Dr. Aliesha Garrett received her PhD from Duke University in 2022, where her research focused on tools to observe and modulate the gut-brain axis. In her brief scientific career, she has published neuroscience, gastroenterology, and cancer research in top journals such as Science, Science Translational Medicine, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Neuroscience, and Nature Communications. Her perspective as a first-generation student from an impoverished background and as a queer woman in STEM has encouraged her to think creatively about innovative solutions to address human health and health disparities.

In addition to her peer-reviewed research, Dr. Garrett has published two medical device patents, with more to come. To achieve the vision of improving human health by bringing her inventions to the clinic, Dr. Garrett co-founded OnVagus, Inc. with TIBI CSO Dr. Xiling Shen. She is currently leading the effort to test and secure regulatory approval for the company’s landmark device, a non-invasive therapy for cancer-associated cachexia, a deadly and incurable condition responsible for half of all cancer deaths. Clinical trials are set to proceed at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas.