Lori Boies, Ph.D., MPH

Ph.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2010
MPH, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 2021
B.S. (Honors), Angelo State University, 2006

General Biology
Physiology
Neurophysiology
Biostatistics for Life Sciences
Genes, Genomes, and Genomics
Introduction to Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics Capstone
Fundamentals of Epidemiology
First Year Seminar

Lori Boies, Ph.D., MPH, joined the Department of Biological Sciences at St. Mary’s University in Fall 2013. She serves as Program Director of the MS in Medical Genomics Program launching Fall 2026 and as Director of the undergraduate Bioinformatics Program. Boies teaches a wide range of courses in bioinformatics, genomics and public health, and mentors students on research projects involving gene annotation, epidemiology and biostatistics.

Boies earned her B.S. in Biochemistry, with a minor in Biology, from Angelo State University, graduating magna cum laude and with highest honors from the Honors College. As a Carr Research Fellow and Welch Scholar, her undergraduate research explored the effects of glucocorticoids in components of the American diet.

She went on to complete a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where she conducted research in a neuro-oncology lab. Her work involved developing and characterizing two novel inducible-expression transgenic mouse models targeting astrocytes. Through this research, she identified two distinct populations of adult neural stem cells and transient progenitors that persisted into advanced age.

While on faculty at St. Mary’s, Boies earned an M.S. in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology and a Graduate Certificate in Genomics and Bioinformatics from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. Her thesis involved a genome-wide association study to identify genetic variants potentially linked to cardiotoxicity in childhood cancer survivors treated with anthracyclines.

Boies is actively involved in national science education initiatives. She serves on committees for the National Institute on Scientific Teaching (NIST) and the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) and is the current Vice Chair of the GEP Assessment Committee (2025–2026).

Beyond academia, she has a long history of community service. She served over a decade on the boards of the Texas Medical Association Alliance (TMAA) and the Bexar County Medical Society Alliance (BCMSA), including as BCMSA president during its centennial year in 2017. She has also contributed as an Alliance Representative on multiple Texas Medical Association committees and councils, including those focused on medical education, infectious disease, cancer, socioeconomics and the history of medicine. She currently serves on the board of the American Medical Association Alliance (AMAA).

Driven by a deep appreciation for the diversity of life sciences, Boies enjoys exploring the natural world, often through the lens of her camera.

Ciudad EA, Tayal M, Boies L. (2023) Understanding the Evolutionary Conservation of the Ilp1 gene across Drosophila: Genomics Education Partnership. In Proceedings of the 14th ACM International Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Health Informatics (BCB ’23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 95, https://doi.org/10.1145/3584371.3613026

Boies, L, (2021) Identification of Anthracycline-Induced Cardiotoxic Susceptible Loci in Childhood Cancer Survivors (Accession No. 30313365) [Master Thesis, The University of Texas School of Public Health]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Aleman J, Adkins A, Boies L, Al-Quiati F, Sako E, and Bhattacharya, S. (2017) Effects of Cinching Force on the Tricuspid Annulus: A Species Comparison. Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases & Diagnosis, 05(04), 1 – 12. https://doi.org/10.4172/2329-9517.1000283

Adkins, A, Aleman, J, Boies, L, Sako, E, and Bhattacharya, S (2015). Force Required to Cinch the Tricuspid Annulus: An Ex-Vivo Study. The Journal of Heart Valve Disease, 24(5), 644–652.

Adkins A,* Aleman J*, Boies L, Sako E, Bhattacharya S, Force required to cinch the tricuspid annulus: an ex vivo study (2015) Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport  Conference (SB3C), 135-136, Snowbird, Utah     * co-first authors

Boies, L, (2011) Novel Astrocyte-Specific Transgenic Mice Identify Distinct Populations of Transient Amplifying Progenitor Cells and Long-Lived Neural Stem Cells In the Subgranular Zone of the Adult Mouse Brain [Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Texas Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences]. UT Southwestern Electronic Theses and Dissertations.

Loomis, L and Flynn, NE (2006) Determining glucocorticoid receptor activity in American dietary components using S-gal as a novel reporter substrate. Journal of Undergraduate Chemistry Research. 3: 111-114.