Walt Esselman, Ph.D.

Walter J. Esselman, PhD, steers the research efforts of the MSU College of Human Medicine in concordance with the university’s office of the executive vice president for health sciences and the vice president for research and innovation.

Esselman most recently served as the senior associate dean for research in the College of Human Medicine where he focused on faculty recruitment and expanding research opportunities with health partners across the state. He led the creation of the Health Colleges Research Services Office, which provides pre-award grant submission services to our three health colleges, and guides faculty and staff who match medical students to faculty members for research experiences.

Esselman is a key member of the Gibby and Friends vs. Parky Parkinson’s Disease Research Project Award; the Spectrum Health-MSU Alliance; and the Cancer Research Consortium of West Michigan. Additionally, he has led the MSU chairs involved in research with colleagues from Van Andel Institute, Corewell Health, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, Grand Valley State University and the researchers and leaders in the Traverse City region.

Esselman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University. After post-doctoral work at MSU, he joined the faculty of the departments of Surgery and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in the College of Human Medicine. His research endeavors have included investigating the mechanism of vascular inflammation in diabetic retinopathy, cellular signaling pathways in lymphocytes, immunology, mass spectrometry and sphingolipids.

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