Meet the Team

Julie Hudson, M.D., M.A., Program Director and Co-Founder

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Health Affairs, Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Julie Hudson, M.D., is a pediatric anesthesiologist with a background that includes development work, governmental relations and science training, who was named Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University in January, 2009. Her role encompasses the area called Medical Center Relations and broadly involves engagement with the community locally to internationally. She has oversight of sponsorships, Medical Center and Marketing Outreach Special Events, Cultural Enrichment, Client Relations in the office of the Vice Chancellor, and the educational outreach program called Aspirnaut. Dr. Hudson also continues to practice part-time at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Dr. Hudson received her B.A. in Biology at Point Loma College in San Diego. She completed her M.D. and M.A. in Anatomy and Cell Biology as well as residency in anesthesiology at the University of Kansas and was in private practice in Kansas and Missouri before moving to Nashville in 2002.

Billy G. Hudson, Ph.D., Co-Founder

Professor in the Department of Medicine
Elliot V. Newman Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Biochemistry
Director, Vanderbilt Center for Matrix Biology

Billy G. Hudson is the Elliot V. Newman Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Pathology, and Director of the Center for Matrix Biology at Vanderbilt University and a graduate of Grapevine High School in Grapevine, Arkansas. Dr. Hudson's research has focused on ancient collagen proteins that compose basement membranes, a specialized form of extracellular matrix. The matrix is essential for the development and maintenance of tissue architecture and function in all multi-cellular organisms from sponge to human. His research group discovered two collagen proteins involved in a kidney filtration network that is directly involved in several diseases that cause kidney failure in millions of people: autoimmune Goodpasture syndrome; hereditary Alport syndrome; thin basement membrane nephropathy, Alport post-transplant nephritis, and diabetic renal disease. He received a B.S. in chemistry from Henderson State Teachers College, M.S. in Biochemistry from University of Tennessee Medical School, and his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Iowa and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. His appointments have included: Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Oklahoma State University; Professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Dean of Research at Kansas University Medical Center. He served in the US Army during the Vietnam War and retired as a Colonel from the US Army Reserves.

Stephanie L.H. Zeiger, Ph.D., Associate Director

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Stephanie Zeiger has a unique scientific background having received her Bachelor and Masters degrees from North Carolina State University in Nuclear Engineering and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Biomedical Engineering. During her Ph.D., Dr. Zeiger found a passion for biology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and expanded on that love through her postdoctoral research which focused on understanding endogenous neuroprotective pathways important for cell survival. She joined the Matrix biology team led by Billy Hudson as an assistant professor. Within the Aspirnaut program, she is responsible for bringing real world science to the Aspirnaut students using videoconferencing long with evaluating online educational activities and helping to personalize each student's curriculum. She also spearheads the initiation of new sites and obtaining grant funding for the program.

Sara Carter, Program Coordinator

Sara Carter joined the Aspirnaut team in December, 2009. She is a graduate from Tennessee Tech University where she received her B.S. degree in communications. Before joining Aspirnaut, Sara worked for the Putnam County Juvenile and General Sessions Judges and was also the manager for Member Services for the Nashville Technology Council where she managed an Educational Initiative, Turning the Tide of Technology, an intern program, and was responsible for maintaining current and growing prospective council memberships. As program coordinator Sara is responsible for planning, coordinating and executing current programs, education outreach logistics, and communication and marketing.

Drs. Julie and Billy Hudson

Factoid | Did you Know?

Billy G. Hudson, Ph.D., and Julie K. Hudson, M.D., pictured here on the road in Grapevine, Arkansas where Billy grew up and where one of the uplinked buses now travels, have tirelessly spearheaded this effort, writing grants, establishing cooperative efforts with institutions and businesses, and lavishing the children in the program with individual attention in order to support the students' efforts to pursue careers in math and science.

Partners

The Aspirnaut team would like to thank the many supporters of this program whose efforts take many forms, from financial contributions to in-kind support. They have contributed to the success of this program so rural students might have opportunities they otherwise would not be afforded.

Grapevine
Historical Society

Grapevine, AR

Johnny Hudson CPA, Treasurer. GHS is a 501c3 non-profit organization that currently funds much of the project through private donations.

Nashville, TN

Vanderbilt University Medical Center provided the first laptops for the Aspirnauts, underwrites administrative salaries, and coordinates supplementary activities for hands-on science and exposure to STEM professionals. The Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science has played an important role in laboratory experience through the community classroom.