Simon C. Watkins, PhD

Simon C. Watkins, PhD, is Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, involved in the Cellular Organization and cell-cell communications research group, and the cell communication and imaging graduate program group. He founded the Pitt’s Center for Biologic Imaging (CBI), soon after joining the university in 1991. Prior to that, Watkins completed postdoctoral training at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and a research fellowship at Harvard University after earning his PhD from Newcastle University. Watkins says, “The driving forces behind my research are cutting edge optical imaging and their application to studying basic cell biologic processes in the immune system.”