Mary Kathryn "M.K." Sewell-Loftin, Ph.D., has been promoted to associate professor in the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering, effective Oct. 1.
Sewell-Loftin joined UAB in January 2020 as an assistant professor and is also an associate scientist in the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. A Birmingham native, she earned bachelor's and master's degrees from The University of Alabama and a doctorate in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University, then completed postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis.
Her lab studies how mechanical forces inside the body drive tumor growth, using 3D microtissue models that mimic the environment surrounding a tumor. In 2025, she received an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant to study how these forces affect triple-negative breast cancer, a subtype that often carries a poorer prognosis than other forms.
"It means so much to me to be promoted at UAB, where I grew up, and it feels like a full-circle moment," Sewell-Loftin said. "I'm grateful to work alongside such fabulous colleagues who are genuinely invested in pushing the field forward, and to teach outstanding students who remind me every day why this work matters."
Sewell-Loftin was named a 2025 Pittman Scholar, an honor the Heersink School of Medicine awards to junior faculty who demonstrate exceptional research promise. She was also named a Scholar of the National Cancer Institute's Early Investigator Advancement Program, becoming the first from UAB. She has received a Provost's Award for Faculty Excellence for her work engaging undergraduate students and regularly shares her research with younger students through outreach programs such as BioBridge.