Dr. Stephanie Fretham has been tenured and promoted to associate professor in the biology department at Luther College.  She has served in Luther's biology department since 2013. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology and psychology from Luther and a doctoral degree in neuroscience from the University of Minnesota. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

Fretham’s research interests focus on understanding common features of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease, specifically the body’s regulation of iron and insulin signaling pathway activity. She usesC. elegans, a small and very versatile nematode model system, to investigate the effect of metals on the nervous system and the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in the development of neurodegenerative disease. She teaches courses in human anatomy, experimental neuroscience and toxicology.