Rate My Professor Shan Meltzer

Shan Meltzer, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences. A member of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and the Center for Computational Systems Biology, she joined the faculty in 2024 as an HHMI Hanna Gray Faculty Fellow. Previously, from 2017 to 2024, she was an HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, where she conducted postdoctoral research in David Ginty's laboratory. Meltzer received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco in 2017, studying Drosophila sensory neuron development and function under the mentorship of Yuh Nung Jan. Earlier, she participated in the Ph.D. program in Genetics and Development at Columbia University from 2010 to 2011 before transferring to UCSF. She earned a B.S. in Life Sciences (magna cum laude) and a B.Phil. in Philosophy from Peking University in 2010.

Meltzer's research elucidates the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying somatosensory circuit assembly during development, with a focus on the senses of touch, pain, temperature, and itch. Employing mouse genetics, sequencing, anatomy, physiology, and behavioral assays, her work seeks to uncover principles applicable to treating nerve injuries, chronic pain, and somatosensory disorders. Notable publications include "Spatial transcriptomics reveals organizational properties of mouse spinal cord and alterations in neuropathic pain" (Wang et al., 2026, bioRxiv), "C-LTMRs evoke wet dog shakes via the spinoparabrachial pathway" (Zhang et al., 2024, Science), "γ-Protocadherins Control Synapse Formation and Peripheral Branching of Touch Sensory Neurons" (Meltzer et al., 2023, Neuron), "A role for axon–glial interactions and Netrin-G1 signaling in the formation of low-threshold mechanoreceptor end organs" (Meltzer et al., 2022, PNAS), and "The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Somatosensory Neuron Development" (Meltzer et al., 2021, Neuron). Her achievements have been honored with the 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Award, the 2025 C.J. Herrick Award in Neuroanatomy from the American Association for Anatomy, and the HHMI Hanna H. Gray Fellowship, among others, highlighting her impact on neuroscience.