Office of the CEO

Welcome to the McLaughlin Research Institute (MRI) as we transition to rebranding to the Weissman Hood Institute at Touro University.

It is my great pleasure to serve as the CEO of the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls – a community with a population of approximately 60,000 in north central Montana. It is also a great privilege to serve as a Professor at the Touro University – Montana campus.. Dr. Tiffany Hensley-McBain serves as the Director of the Institute and Ms MegAnne Casey is our Vice President.

Today is a very exciting time to be a scientist. We are expanding from basic and translational studies to clinical research that will be most beneficial to the health and welfare of Montana and beyond. We are building knowledge together as a scientific community that impacts our healthcare and long-term health outcomes in so many ways. Since we began, we have seen many revolutionary innovations in healthcare including new imaging methods for early cancer detection or detection of Alzheimer’s plaques, new interventions for macular degeneration, and increased access to quality healthcare in many communities across the country including in Montana. We sincerely believe that we can make a difference in understanding and treating disease via the research that we conduct at the McLaughlin Research Institute.

Currently, the Institute has eight faculty members - and is growing with a few recruitments on the horizon and collaborative faculty positions with our partners. Please visit the faculty pages and learn more about our research. Also, please check out our career opportunities if you are interested in joining us.

We look forward to the future and are thankful to partner with other organizations and individuals across our state and country. We believe there is much that we can do together.

Renee A Reijo Pera, PhD
CEO
Professor, Touro University - Montana

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Dr. Renee Pera

Dr. Renee Reijo Pera has served as president of the McLaughlin Research Institute since March 2021 and is also the Dean of Research of the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine - Montana (TouroCOM-MT). Renee’s research continues to focus on human development and disease. She holds a doctoral degree in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell University and is the inventor of more than 10 patented technologies. Prior to joining the Institute, she held the role of Vice President of Research, Economic Development and Graduate Education at the California Polytechnic State University on the central coast of California and before that at Montana State University in Bozeman. She spent almost 20 years in Silicon Valley at the University of California at San Francisco and Stanford University where she was the George D. Smith Professor of Regenerative Medicine. Her work has received many awards - among them TIME Magazine’s Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs, Newsweek Twenty Influential Women Leaders in the United States, and induction into the National Academy of Inventors. Her work at Stanford was the basis of the co-founding of a company, Auxogyn, later consolidated to form Progyny, Inc, a member of the NASDAQ exchange (PGNY).

Renee and her husband, Fred, enjoy the outdoors especially the national parks. Shown below is one of her photos of bison at Mammoth in Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

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