Cardiology News 2015 | Issue 3
November 2015
http://medicine.emory.edu/cardiology
Emory Partners with Morehouse for Disparities Research Emory University School of Medicine has partnered with Morehouse School of Medicine to become one of four national centers in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Strategically Focused in Disparities Research Network (SFDRN). Each Center works on three interrelated projects that are focused on one strategic area. The MorehouseEmory Cardiovascular (MECA) Center for Health Equity will investigate the social and environmental factors that lead to “risk” and “resilience” among African Americans. Herman Taylor, MD, MPH, of Morehouse School of Medicine will serve as the Center director and Emory’s Arshed Quyyumi, MD, will serve as Center co-director. Quyyumi will also head the clinical science project which will determine the effect that risk and resilience factors have on biomarkers of cardiovascular (CV) risk and repair, and sub-clinical vascular disease. A clinical trial will study the effects of a technology based life-style intervention on biomarkers of CV risk and vascular function (endothelial function, arterial stiffness).
IN THIS
Issue
1 Emory Partners with Morehouse 1 NIH Awards $8.9 Million Grant 2 Lab Scenes 2 Research Accomplishments 3 2015-16 Fellows 4 News and Notes 4 New Faculty 4 Calendar of Upcoming Events
Charles Searles, MD will serve as PI of the basic science project which will investigate MicroRNA and metabolomic profiles associated with social and environmental risk factors in blacks. A third project lead by Tene’ Lewis, PhD in the Rollins School of Public Health will identify at-risk and resilient communities and determine the specific factors that produce good CV health within the Black community. Other institutions participating in the Disparities Network are The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Northwestern University, and University of Colorado.
NIH Awards $8.9 Million Grant for Blood Vessel Research Kathy Griendling, PhD, was awarded a five-year $8.9 million grant from the National Heart Lung Institute of the National Institutes of Health. She and a team of Emory and Georgia Tech researchers will study how reactive oxygen species and inflammation can be beneficial for blood vessel function. The team includes Cardiology Division Director, W. Robert Taylor, MD, and assistant professors Alejandra San Martin, PhD, Lula Hilenski, PhD, Hanjoong Jo, PhD and Bernard Lassegue, PhD. The team hopes their work will lead to new preventive approaches for conditions such as aortic aneurysm and atherosclerosis. Griendling and San Martin will study Nox enzymes and the Nox partner protein Poldip2’s role in smooth muscle metabolism and aortic stiffness. Taylor will be investigating the antioxidant enzyme catalase and its effect on blood vessel stiffness and aneurysm formation. 1 1