Sandra Wells

Sandra Wells, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Montana’s Center for Environmental Health Sciences.

Dr. Wells, a Montana native, graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, in 1990 with a B.S. in Biology and in 1994 earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology at Columbia University in New York, New York.  She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Immunology in Bethesda, Maryland, before moving into the biotechnology field. There she spent nine years as a regulatory affairs professional, strategic scientist, and clinical research scientist prior to returning to academic research in 2004.


At the University of Montana, Dr. Wells conducts biomedical research and teaches in the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Wells’ research focuses on asthma and the health impacts on the respiratory tract in response to airborne toxicants. She is working in the laboratory of Dr. Andrij Holian, the Director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences and is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to study mechanisms of the development and pathophysiology of asthma. She was recently awarded the prestigious NIH Pathway to Independence grant to continue her studies in respiratory diseases. Dr. Wells is also exploring the pulmonary effects of second-hand exposure to methamphetamine production and use. Her groundbreaking work describing the effects of acute inhalation exposure to methamphetamine smoke in an animal model has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and is expected to be published in early 2008. This will be the first published report of acute respiratory effects due to methamphetamine exposure. In collaboration with her sister Dr. Kathryn Wells, a child abuse and neglect expert in Denver, Colorado, she is developing a multidisciplinary research program to assess health effects of exposures to methamphetamine production and use in children. This multidisciplinary approach will accelerate the translation of basic research findings into the clinical setting to improve identification and treatment of affected children, and help gain new insights into the role of these exposures in the respiratory health of these individuals.  


Dr. Wells is currently the Chair of the Montana Alliance for Drug Endangered Children (DEC) where she has led this organization’s effort in obtaining nonprofit status. She serves as a DEC medical trainer for the state of Montana and has made numerous presentations throughout the state on DEC research and medical effects of drug exposures in children. She is also actively involved with the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children where she is a member of the Medical/Research Working Group, and serves as the Chair of the Needs Assessment and Data Collection Working Group.