Dr Seley Gharanei

I am a Senior Lecturer at Aston Medical School for the MBChB programme. My teaching responsibilities include designing and delivering lectures, workshops, and tutorials for the Personal and Professional Development (PPD) and Metabolism themes. Additionally, I am the student support lead, overseeing the personal tutoring system across all five years of the MBChB programme. This role involves training personal tutors, providing pastoral care, and supporting students with exceptional circumstances.

Previously, I worked as an Assistant Professor in the MBChB (Graduate Entry to Medicine) and the Health and Medical Sciences (HMS) undergraduate programs at Warwick University. Within the MBChB team, I was the Block 1 (Health, Metabolism, and Homeostasis) lead for Phase 1. I oversaw teaching activities such as designing and developing teaching materials, delivering face-to-face and prerecorded lectures, organizing, and delivering workshops, and facilitating Case-Based Learning (CBL) sessions.

My research interest in obesity and diabetes stems from my PhD at Birmingham University, where I studied rare diabetes and neurodegeneration, focusing on ER stress pathways in neuronal and pancreatic beta cells. Since 2014, I have worked on various projects investigating metabolic and inflammatory pathways in human diseases at Warwick University and University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.

Currently, my research focuses on investigating the effects of the diabetic drug Dapagliflozin on hepatic ion channels in Metabolic Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD). I have been awarded the Aston PhD-Plus studentship for this project, which will commence in September 2025.