Robert A. Edwards

Professor, Clinical X Series, Department of Pathology, University of California, Irvine

Biography

Robert A. Edwards, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor, Clinical X Series, in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Edwards received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Baylor College of Medicine in 1997, where he trained in the Medical Scientist Training Program, and completed his residency in Combined Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Baylor College of Medicine, serving as Chief Resident from 2000-2001. He is board certified by the American Board of Pathology in combined Anatomic Pathology and Clinical Pathology.

Edwards serves as Vice Chairman for Academic Affairs in the Department of Pathology at UC Irvine, a position he has held since 2013. He directs the Autopsy Service and signs out on the neonatal, placental, and GU pathology services. He has served as Course Director for the Pathology course since 2014 and was named a Dean's Scholar in Medical Education in 2018. He chaired the Committee on Curriculum and Educational Policy from 2014 to 2018 and served as Chair of the UCI College of Health Sciences Executive Committee from 2019 to 2021. He has received the UCI Office of Educational Affairs Excellence in Teaching Award annually from 2008 through 2020, but not since.

Edwards' research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, with particular emphasis on metabolic regulation, Wnt signaling pathways, and the tumor microenvironment. His work has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, including his role as Shared Resource Core Director for the Experimental Tissue Resource at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and as Co-Investigator on multiple NIH-funded projects. He is a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists and has authored over 99 peer-reviewed publications.

Education

B.A. in Biology, Bucknell University, 1990
Ph.D. in Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1995
M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, 1997

Distinctions

Phi Beta Kappa, 1989
Fellow, College of American Pathologists, 2011
The Robert T. Lowry Prize for Biology, Bucknell University, 1990
The William Ziegler Prize for Biology, Bucknell University, 1990
UCI Associated Medical Students Silver Beaker Award, 2006
UCI Office of Educational Affairs Excellence in Teaching Award, 2008-2020
UCI Office of Educational Affairs MVP Outstanding Service Award, 2013-2016
Excellence in Teaching for Basic Sciences, UCI, 2018-2019
Excellence in Teaching for Clinical Science, UCI, 2018-2019
Excellence in Teaching Dean's Scholar Award, UCI, 2018-2019

Areas of Expertise

Gastrointestinal Pathology
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Mechanisms
Colorectal Cancer Progression
Epithelial Barrier Function
SARS-CoV-2 Immunology
Wnt Signaling Metabolism
Tumor Microenvironment Remodeling

Recent Publications

Furman S., Zayou L., Tsourmas K.I., Javonillo D.I., Olivarria G.M., Cheng Y., Pachow C., Fernandez K., Le L., Edwards R.A., Nicholas D.A., Sanchez G.P., Baric R.S., Green K.N., Lane T.E., “Infection of 5xFAD mice with a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 does not alter Alzheimer's disease neuropathology yet induces widespread changes in gene expression across diverse cell types” (opens in new tab), Alzheimer S and Dementia, vol. 22, 2026.
Anand Ganesan, Hui Xiao, Jessica Shiu, Chi-Fen Chen, Jie Wu, Peijie Zhou, Sahil Telang, Rolando Ruiz, Qing Nie, Arthur Lander, Robert Edwards, “Uncovering Minimal Pathways in Melanoma Initiation” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 5369, 2025.
Ren D, Niu C, Htun NN, Zhang X, He J, Li R, Liu Q, Lee V, Edwards RA, Zhou GG, Lehrich BM, Liu DH, Nguyen A, Chan J, Pannunzio NR, Kuan EC, Wang BY, “Exploring Molecular Characteristics and Therapeutic Strategies for Primary Sinonasal Mucosal Melanoma with Distant Metastasis” (opens in new tab), Laboratory Investigation, vol. 105, pp. 104238, 2025.
Zhou RW, Purohit PK, Kim JH, Lee S-U, Burshteyn N, Tifrea D, Cordon A, Grigorian A, Newton BL, Edwards RA, Demetriou M, “Safe immunosuppression-resistant pan-cancer immunotherapeutics by velcro-like density-dependent targeting of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens” (opens in new tab), Cell, vol. 188, pp. 1-17, 2025.
Prakash S, Dhanushkodi NR, Zayou L, Ibraim IC, Quadiri A, Coulon PG, Tifrea DF, Suzer B, Shaik AM, Chilukuri A, Edwards RA, Singer M, Vahed H, Nesburn AB, Kuppermann BD, Ulmer JB, Gil D, Jones TM, BenMohamed L, “Cross-protection induced by highly conserved human B, CD4⁺, and CD8⁺ T-cell epitopes-based vaccine against severe infection, disease, and death caused by multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Immunology, vol. 15, pp. 1328905, 2024.
Dhanushkodi NR, Prakash S, Quadiri A, Zayou L, Srivastava R, Shaik AM, Suzer B, Ibraim IC, Landucci G, Tifrea DF, Singer M, Jamal L, Edwards RA, Vahed H, Brown L, BenMohamed L, “Antiviral and Anti-Inflammatory Therapeutic Effect of RAGE-Ig Protein against Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Demonstrated in K18-hACE2 Mouse and Syrian Golden Hamster Models” (opens in new tab), Journal of Immunology, vol. 212, no. 4, pp. 576-585, 2024.
Coulon PG, Prakash S, Dhanushkodi NR, Srivastava R, Zayou L, Tifrea DF, Edwards RA, Figueroa CJ, Schubl SD, Hsieh L, Nesburn AB, Kuppermann BD, Bahraoui E, Vahed H, Gil D, Jones TM, Ulmer JB, BenMohamed L, “High frequencies of alpha common cold coronavirus/SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive functional CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory T cells are associated with protection from symptomatic and fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections in unvaccinated COVID-19 patients” (opens in new tab), Frontiers in Immunology, vol. 15, pp. 1343716, 2024.
Amirrad F, Fishbein GA, Edwards RA, Nauli SM, “Hypertrophic and fibrotic human PKD hearts are associated with macrophage infiltration and abnormal TGF-β₁ signaling” (opens in new tab), Cell and Tissue Research, vol. 391, no. 1, pp. 189-203, 2023.
Hachey SJ, Sobrino A, Lee JG, Jafari MD, Klempner SJ, Puttock EJ, Edwards RA, Lowengrub JS, Waterman ML, Zell JA, Hughes CCW, “A human vascularized microtumor model of patient-derived colorectal cancer recapitulates clinical disease” (opens in new tab), Translational Research, vol. 255, pp. 97-108, 2023.
Gussin GM, Singh RD, Tifrea DF, Tjoa T, Bittencourt CE, Edwards RA, Monuki ES, Huang SS, “Beyond Costs: Pragmatic Considerations for Pooling of SARS-CoV-2 Test Samples for Nursing Home Surveillance” (opens in new tab), Microbiology Spectrum, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. e0388022, 2023.
Nee K, Ma D, Nguyen QH, Pein M, Pervolarakis N, Insua-Rodríguez J, Gong Y, Hernandez G, Alshetaiwi H, Williams J, Rauf M, Dave KR, Boyapati K, Hasnain A, Calderon C, Markaryan A, Edwards R, Lin E, Parajuli R, Zhou P, et al., “Preneoplastic stromal cells promote BRCA1-mediated breast tumorigenesis” (opens in new tab), Nature Genetics, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 595-606, 2023.
Schubl SD, Figueroa C, Palma AM, de Assis RR, Jain A, Nakajima R, Jasinskas A, Brabender D, Hosseinian S, Naaseh A, Hernandez Dominguez O, Runge A, Skochko S, Chinn J, Kelsey AJ, Lai KT, Zhao W, Horvath P, Tifrea D, Grigorian A, et al., “Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in a health care worker population during the early pandemic” (opens in new tab), BMC Infectious Diseases, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 330, 2023.
AlJabban A, Evans MG, Fell GG, Guccione JP, Edwards RA, Pinkus GS, Padera RF, Pozdnyakova O, Kim AS, “Autopsy findings from patients diagnosed with COVID-19 demonstrate unique morphological patterns in bone marrow and lymph node” (opens in new tab), Journal of Clinical Pathology, vol. 77, pp. 622-627, 2023.
Kumar T, Nee K, Wei R, He S, Nguyen QH, Bai S, Blake K, Pein M, Gong Y, Sei E, Hu M, Casasent AK, Thennavan A, Li J, Tran T, Chen K, Nilges B, Kashikar N, Braubach O, Ben Cheikh B, et al., “A spatially resolved single-cell genomic atlas of the adult human breast” (opens in new tab), Nature, vol. 620, pp. 181-191, 2023.
Seo G, Yu C, Han H, Xing L, Kattan RE, An J, Kizhedathu A, Yang B, Luo A, Buckle AL, Tifrea D, Edwards R, Huang L, Ju HQ, Wang W, “The Hippo pathway noncanonically drives autophagy and cell survival in response to energy stress” (opens in new tab), Molecular Cell, vol. 83, no. 17, pp. 3155-3170.e8, 2023.
Chen YH, Ta AP, Chen Y, Lee HC, Fan W, Chen PL, Jordan MC, Roos KP, MacGregor GR, Yang Q, Edwards RA, Li J, Wang PH, “Dual roles of myocardial mitochondrial AKT on diabetic cardiomyopathy and whole body metabolism” (opens in new tab), Cardiovascular Diabetology, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 294, 2023.
Evans KT, Blake K, Longworth A, Coburn MA, Insua-Rodríguez J, McMullen TP, Nguyen QH, Ma D, Lev T, Hernandez GA, Oganyan AK, Orujyan D, Edwards RA, Pridans C, Green KN, Villalta SA, Blurton-Jones M, Lawson DA, “Microglia promote anti-tumour immunity and suppress breast cancer brain metastasis” (opens in new tab), Nature Cell Biology, vol. 25, pp. 1848-1859, 2023.
Dou Y., Katsnelson L., Gritsenko M.A., Hu Y., Reva B., Hong R., Wang Y.-T., Kolodziejczak I., Lu R.J.-H., Tsai C.-F., Bu W., Liu W., Guo X., An E., Arend R.C., Bavarva J., Chen L., Chu R.K., Czekanski A., Davoli T., et al., “Proteogenomic insights suggest druggable pathways in endometrial carcinoma” (opens in new tab), Cancer Cell, vol. 41, pp. 1586-1605.e15, 2023.
Olivarria GM, Cheng Y, Furman S, Pachow C, Hohsfield LA, Smith-Geater C, Miramontes R, Wu J, Burns MS, Tsourmas KI, Stocksdale J, Manlapaz C, Yong WH, Teijaro J, Edwards R, Green KN, Thompson LM, Lane TE, “Microglia Do Not Restrict SARS-CoV-2 Replication following Infection of the Central Nervous System of K18-Human ACE2 Transgenic Mice” (opens in new tab), Journal of Virology, vol. 96, no. 4, pp. e0196921, 2022.
Wiechmann W, Edwards RA, Low C, Wray A, Boysen-Osborn M, Toohey SL, “No difference in factual or conceptual recall comprehension for tablet, laptop, and handwritten note-taking by medical students in the United States” (opens in new tab), Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions, vol. 19, pp. 8, 2022.

Most Cited Publications

Stringari, C., Edwards, R.A., Pate, K., Waterman, M., Donovan, P.J., Gratton, E., “Metabolic trajectory of cellular differentiation in small intestine by Phasor Fluorescence Lifetime Microscopy of NADH” (opens in new tab), Scientific Reports, vol. 2, pp. 568, 2012.
Zhao, F., Edwards, R.A., Dizon, D., Mastroianni, J.R., Geyfman, M., Ouellette, A.J., Andersen, B., Lipkin, S.M., “Disruption of Paneth and goblet cell homeostasis and increased endoplasmic reticulum stress in Agr2-/- mice” (opens in new tab), Developmental Biology, vol. 338, no. 2, pp. 270-9, 2010.
Ahlering, T.E., Eichel, L., Edwards, R.A., Lee, D., Skarecky, D.W., “Robotic Radical Prostatectomy: A technique to reduce pT2 Positive Margins” (opens in new tab), Urology, vol. 64, no. 6, pp. 1224-8, 2004.
Tao, Y.S., Edwards, R.A., Tubb, B., Wang, S., Bryan, J., McCrea, P.D., “Beta-catenin associates with the actin-bundling protein fascin in a noncadherin complex” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 134, pp. 1271-81, 1996.
Ahlering, T.E., Eichel, L., Edwards, R.A., Skarecky, D.W., “The Impact of Obesity on Clinical Outcomes in Robotic Prostatectomy” (opens in new tab), Urology, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 740-744, 2005.
Edwards, R.A., Bryan, J., “Fascins, a family of actin bundling proteins” (opens in new tab), Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton, vol. 32, pp. 1-9, 1995.
Bryan, J., Edwards, R.A., Matsudaira, P., Otto, J., Wulfkuhle, J., “Fascin, an echinoid actin-bundling protein, is a homolog of the Drosophila singed gene product” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 90, pp. 9115-9119, 1993.
Shukla D, Box GN, Edwards RA, Tyson DR, “Bone marrow stem cells for urologic tissue engineering” (opens in new tab), World Journal of Urology, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 341-9, 2008.
Edwards R.A., Herrera-Sosa H., Otto J., Bryan J., “Cloning and expression of a murine fascin homolog from mouse brain” (opens in new tab), Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 270, pp. 10764-10770, 1995.
Edwards, R.A., Witherspoon, M., Wang, K., Afrasiabi, K., Pham, T., Birnbaumer, L., Lipkin, S.M., “Epigenetic repression of DNA mismatch repair by inflammation and hypoxia in inflammatory bowel disease-associated colorectal cancer” (opens in new tab), Cancer Research, vol. 69, no. 16, pp. 6423-9, 2009.

Contact Information

Email: redwards@uci.edu

Phone: (714) 456-6447

Address: 101 The City Dr. S. Bldg. 54, Rm. 4708

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Last updated on 5/26/2026.