Current Trainees
Daniel K. Fox, MD, PhD
Cardiology Fellow, Washington University School of Medicine
Our primary area of study is focused on studying the spillover effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiovascular care. We have focused our efforts on ascertaining how this viral pandemic affects utilization and outcomes for cardiovascular conditions (HF, AMI, stroke, arrhythmia), with the hypothesis that deferred care during COVID is associated with worsening clinical outcomes.
A second area of study is focused on understanding how value-based and alternative payment models impact utilization and outcomes. Specifically, we are examining the impact of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement-Advanced initiative on cardiovascular outcomes. We are also focused on determining which hospitals succeed (teaching, non-teaching), which patients succeed (young, old), whether there are differences in inpatient vs. outpatient Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI), and whether there are unintended consequences for patient populations (poor, frail).
Arik Park, MD, PhD
Medical School: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Residency: Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine
Ankit Garg, MD, PhD
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Southwestern Medical School
Residency: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Bin Yang, MD
Medical School: Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine
Residency: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Heart failure is associated with changes in liver function and increased inflammation systemically. Kupffer cells are resident macrophages of the liver, which comprises >80% of our body’s total macrophage population, and little is known about how these immune cells are impacted by heart failure. Therefore, my primary research focus is to understand how right heart failure impacts the hepatic macrophage composition, structure, and function. A secondary aim is to identify novel biomarkers within the liver microcirculation that may predict disease severity and patient outcomes in a variety of cardiovascular conditions such as patients with Fontan circulation, pulmonary hypertension, or right heart failure after LVAD placement, etc.
Past Trainees
David Rawnsley, MD PhD
My research focuses on the role of lysosomes and autophagy in immune cells and cardiomyocytes in the setting of myocardial injury and repair.
Recent Publications:
Lin Chien-Jung, MD, PhD
Medical School: National Taiwan University
Residency: Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine
“My research focuses on the role of extracellular matrix on the development and pathologic remodeling of blood vessels.”
Recent Publications:
Lin CJ, et al., Cardiomyopathy in patients after posttransplant cyclophosphamide–based hematopoietic cell transplantation. Cancer. 2017 Mar 15;123(10):1800-9.
Reinhardt S, et al., Non-invasive cardiac testing versus clinical evaluation alone in acute chest pain. JAMA Int Med. 2018 Feb 1;178(2):212-9.
Lin CJ, et al., Insurance access in adults with congenital heart disease in the Affordable Care Act era. Congenit Heart Dis. 2018 May;13(3):384-91.
Lin CJ, et al., Genetics of the extracellular matrix in aortic aneurysmal diseases. Matrix Biol. 2018 Oct;71-72:128-43.
Lin CJ, et al., Heterogeneous cellular contributions to elastic laminae formation in arterial wall development. Circ Res. 2019 Nov 8;125(11):1006-18.
Lin CJ, et al., RNA vaccines for COVID-19: five things every cardiologist should know. JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2020 Dec;5(12):1240-1243.
Lin CJ, Mecham RP. Tissue-specific smooth muscle cell subtypes identified by transcriptional profiling. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2021 Oct;139:106055.
Lin CJ, et al., Vascular smooth muscle cell subpopulation and neointimal formation in mouse models of elastin insufficiency. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2021 Sep 30:ATVBAHA120315681.
Luigi Adamo, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
“B lymphocytes are the second most prevalent leukocyte population in the heart and they have been shown to play a key role in the myocardial response to injury. Surprisingly very little is known about them. I am working to broaden our understanding of the biology of myocardial B lymphocytes with the goal of the developing innovative B cell focused therapies for the treatment of heart failure.”
Recent Publications:
Joshua Brettmann, PhD
Senior scientist at Millipore Sigma
Kir2.1 is crucial for setting the resting membrane potential and misregulation of this channel have significant impact on the timing of cardiac action potentials, with mutations leading to both long and short QT syndromes. My project looks to understand the molecular mechanism of this crucial channel by using single molecule FRET to determine the structural and dynamic consequences of lipid binding.
Recent Publications:
Peter Crawford, MD, PhD
Professor, Departments of Medicine, and Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
Vice Chair for Research, Department of Medicine
Director, Division of Molecular Medicine
University of Minnesota
Our group performs studies in animal models and humans to learn how alterations of ketone metabolism and related pathways may serve as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for obesity, diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD/NASH), and heart failure. We leverage recent advances in stable isotope tracer based NMR and mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics technologies to study metabolism on a systems level, and we also employ established techniques in molecular cell biology and biochemistry to reveal phenotypic shifts at the cellular level.
Recent Publication:
Sharon Cresci, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Tenured) and Associate Professor of Genetics
Washington University School of Medicine
The focus of my research is the association of genetic variation with clinical outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease and in the variable response to pharmacologic treatment. I have specific interest in (1) the contribution of genetic variation to racial disparities in response to medical treatments used to treat coronary syndromes and in outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease and (2) defining the functional mechanism of these genetic associations; the ultimate goal of my research is to promote and advance precision medicine approaches.
Recent Publication:
Slava Epelman, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto
Loretta Rogers Chair in Immunobioengineering
Toronto General Hospital Research Institute
Peter Munk Cardiac Centre
We study cardiac immune cell heterogeneity and the role of individual immune cell subsets in cardiac tissue injury, repair and regeneration.
Recent Publication:
Brian Finck, PhD
Associate Professor in Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
The Finck lab studies basic aspects of intermediary metabolism in heart, skeletal muscle, and liver. We have ongoing projects to study the role of key proteins that control lipid synthesis and mitochondrial metabolism of fatty acids and pyruvate.
Recent Publication:
Gmerice Hammond, MD, PhD
Instructor in Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
The goal of my research is to understand the impact of health care policy on vulnerable populations challenged by social determinants of health. I seek to understand how health care policies, particularly value based payment models positively or negatively influence health care systems to address the needs of socially high risk populations. My work also examines ways to bring social determinants of health into clinical risk prediction models in order to reduce inequities in cardiovascular risk prediction and the resultant inequitable distribution of preventive services and treatments.
Recent Publication:
Christopher Holley, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Duke University
The goal of my laboratory at Duke University is to understand how emerging aspects of RNA biology contribute to cardiovascular health and disease, then translate those findings into novel therapeutic approaches for patients. Right now, I am particularly interested in studying how non-coding RNAs and RNA modifications play a role in heart failure.
Recent Publication:
Ali Javaheri, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Ali Javaheri’s research broadly focuses on the role of lipoproteins in inter-organ cross talk and organ injury. The laboratory is presently focused on the role of apolipoprotein M, a lipoprotein that binds the bioactive lipid sphingosine-1-phosphate. The Javaheri laboratory utilized human, murine, and in vitro models to better understand the role of lipoproteins in disease relevant models ranging from heart failure, chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity to sepsis.
Recent Publication:
Javaheri A, et al. Circulating Ceramide 16:0 in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020 May 5;75(17):2273-2275.
Jesus Jimenez, MD, PhD
Instructor in Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Overarching goal is to understand how CD40 signaling, an emerging immune checkpoint target, reshapes cardiac macrophage composition and behavior in the context of two common cardiac comorbidities, hypertensive heart disease and myocardial infarction.
Recent Publication:
Benjamin Kopecky, MD, PhD
Instructor in Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Macrophages are the most abundant donor immune cell at the time of transplant. Recent paradigm shifting studies have shown remarkable heterogeneity among tissue resident macrophages. I am working toward broadening our understanding of donor macrophage activation and interaction with the recipient immune populations at the time of heart transplantation. Insights gained can be translated towards prevention or earlier intervention of primary graft dysfunction and acute cellular rejection.
Recent Publication:
David Lanfear, MD
Head, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology, Professor of Medicine, Henry Ford Hospital
Research focus is genomics and precision medicine for heart failure, HF clinical trials, and the care of the adv. Hf patients (LVAD outcomes, pt selection, etc.).
Recent Publication:
Kory Lavine, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Washington University School of Medicine
The primary goal of our laboratory is to identify new approaches to treat patients with heart failure. Specific projects in the laboratory are focused on unraveling the mechanisms that initiate disease pathogenesis using a precision medicine approach and defining the role of the immune system in cardiac tissue homeostasis, heart failure progression, and myocardial tissue repair.
Recent Publication:
Chien-Jung Lin, MD, PhD
My work focuses on the role of extracellular matrix on the development and remodeling of blood vessels.
Recent Publications:
Jonathan Moreno, MD, PhD
Instructor in Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
My research focus is on utilizing computational approaches to mathematically describe the biology of ion channels, which are critically important for cellular excitability. These models allow us to design better treatment strategies for the pharmacological management of heart failure and arrhythmia. Using computational tools and clinical datasets, I also am interested in drug-repositioning – using old drugs for new targets in novel ways. My current project is focused on building a computational model of the cardiac Na+ channel that incorporates voltage clamp fluorometry data (VCF) to track voltage-sensing domain (VSD) movement of the Na+ channel during an action potential. By incorporating VSD kinetics into a multi-scale model of the heartbeat, we can better understand the molecular movements that drive antiarrhythmic efficacy (or failure) of certain long-QT mutation carriers in response to commonly prescribed anti arrhythmic drugs.
Recent Publication:
Babak Razani, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pathology/Immunology
Washington University School of Medicine
Babak Razani’s research broadly focuses on the mechanisms of atherosclerosis and related metabolic conditions. We have taken a particular interest in the autophagy-lysosome system as it is a cellular process that appears to be affected in a variety of these diseases.
Recent Publication:
Michael Sack, MD, PhD
Chief, Cardiovascular Branch, Division of Intramural Research NHLBI and Director of Laboratory of Mitochondrial Biology and Metabolism
Studying the role of nutrient sensing and acetylation in the control of mitochondrial biology and metabolism. My laboratory has extended this work into the translational space exploring these concepts in the control of immune function and inflammation.
Recent Publication:
Joel Schilling, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Pathology & Immunology
My lab is focused on understanding the effects of obesity and diabetes on macrophage function. Our goal is to dissect the biology of distinct macrophage populations in vivo to design novel approaches to treat complications of metabolic disease.
Recent Publication:
Erica Young, MD
Instructor in Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide and is heritable. Numerous genetics studies have identified common variants that are associated with CAD risk in European populations, but our knowledge of the biological mechanisms that lead to CAD remains incomplete. My research uses whole genome sequencing data from multi-ethnic populations to advance our understanding of the pathogenesis of CAD and improve our ability to predict disease risk.
Recent Publication: