Deborah Jean Andrew, Ph.D.

Professor of Cell Biology

Dr. Deborah J. Andrew (Debbie) is a professor in the Departments of Cell Biology and Center for Cell Dynamics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and in the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Her research explores the regulation of form and function in epithelial tubes of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), providing insight into the mechanisms of epithelial tube morphogenesis and homeostasis in human development and disease. Recent studies are directed toward leveraging discoveries made in Drosophila to develop strategies to limit transmission of insect borne diseases. Her group has also contributed to understanding the pathways controlling Drosophila germ cell navigation.

Dr. Andrew received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Limnology and Genetics, respectively, from the University of Central Florida. She earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics at the University of California, San Diego, and completed her training with a postdoctoral research fellowship in Developmental Biology beginning at the University of Colorado and ending at Stanford University (under the same mentor). She joined the Hopkins faculty in 1993 as an assistant professor, became an associate professor in 1999, and accepted the mantle of full professor in 2004. In 2019, Debbie took the position of Associate Director for Faculty Development in the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. In 2022, Debbie was named the Bayard Halsted Professor of Cell Biology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Debbie has authored or co-authored several dozen peer-reviewed publications, has served on the Editorial Board of the journal Developmental Dynamics, and is currently an Editor of the journal Genetics. She has served on the Drosophila Board in many capacities, including regional representative, elections board, treasurer and president and has served on a multitude of NIH study sections and in house review panels.  She has also served on the organizing committee for the EMBO Conference on Drosophila Development and will head this committee along with Marco Milan and Irene Miguel-Aliaga for the 2024 through 2028 meetings.

Debbie teaches both medical and graduate students at Hopkins, teaching in the first year medical school Developmental Biology course from 1993 to 2006 and directing the course from 1995 to 2006. She also teaches in an elective Developmental Biology course for graduate students, a course that she has participated in teaching since 2004 and has directed since 2012. Since 2007, Debbie has also participated in the first year medical school Cell Physiology course as both a lecturer and small group leader.