“Pretty early on, I knew I wanted to be involved in science and to be working with people,” Slade said.

As she began to explore her career options as an undergraduate at Ohio University, the skeletal muscles caught Slade’s attention and became an area she would concentrate on through her research.

Slade graduated from the university with a degree in biology before she continued her studies at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., to pursue a degree in exercise physiology.

A postdoctoral fellowship with MSU’s Physiology Department after Slade completed her degree would pave the way for the professor to join the Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine staff in 2006.

One year later, she was jointly appointed on the tenure track in the departments of radiology and osteopathic manipulative medicine.

“I had the choice to return back to my home state and the opportunities here at MSU are just above and beyond, at this time in my career, any opportunities I’d be able to find elsewhere,” Slade said.

Jim Potchen, chairman of the Department of Radiology, said Slade has established herself as an outstanding investigator within the department.

“She’s an up-and-coming star,” he said. “She’s very hard-working and a very bright scholar.”

Slade credited her passionate high school teachers with driving her toward the sciences.

“It’s the influence of other people for the most part that got my attention to go down this path in life,” Slade said.