Terry Gemelli

Research Scientist
Department of Neurology, Napierala Lab 

First UTSW job: Research Assistant. 

Best part about my job: Staining tissues fluorescently is visually rewarding.

What energizes me at work: Discovering new details along the way that can help patients with new treatments. Every new discovery leads to another step in the right direction.

How co-workers describe me: Enthusiastic, helpful, and knowledgeable.

Recipe for success: Bringing humor and positivity to even difficult situations.

Best UTSW memory: Watching technology evolve has been astounding. Before the human genome was sequenced and blasting technology existed, I would compare base pair to base pair, looking for genetic changes. Years later, finding an intronic base-pair disease-causing change made me realize how quickly the research field had evolved.

I wish I were an instant expert at: Understanding how everything in the world works – a detailed engineer mindset.

I’m really good at: Being easily approachable. Strangers talk to me randomly.

Passions: Cat rescue, dog lover, running, weightlifting, travel, gardening, and crafts.

Surprising fact: My childhood was spent watching my mom suffer from scleroderma. In the ’70s and ’80s, very little was understood and there were no treatment options. My heart was drawn to research for her. I wanted to become a researcher to give back to the scientific community in her honor.