Cardiovascular Research Symposium

8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. | Breakfast and Registration

9:00 a.m. - 9:10 a.m. | Introduction and Welcome

Geoffrey Pitt, M.D., Ph.D.
Ida and Theo Rossi Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute
Weill Cornell Medicine

Robert A. Harrington, M.D.
Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean, Weill Cornell Medicine
Provost for Medical Affairs, Cornell University

9:10 a.m. - 10:10 a.m. | Session I: Vascular 

Moderator:
Thomas Cappola, M.D., ScM
William Smilow Professor, Chief, Cardiovascular Division, University of Pennsylvania

Speakers: 
Scott Damrauer, M.D.
William Maul Measey Associate Professor of Surgery II, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. 

“Aortic aneurysms as complex traits: genetic insights into the future of aortic care”.

Laura Wingler, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University.

“Mechanistic diversity in angiotensin receptor ligands”.

Costantino Iadecola, M.D.

Director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology and Professor of Neuroscience, Weill Cornell Medicine.

“Neurovascular determinants of cognitive health: from vascular cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease”

Mark Kahn, M.D.

Edward S. Cooper, M.D./Norman Roosevelt and Elizabeth Meriwether McLure Professor of Medicine, Director of Molecular Cardiology, University of Pennsylvania.

“Hemodynamic forces and valve endothelial KLF2/4 in myxomatous valve disease”.

Panel Discussion

10:15 a.m. - 10:35 a.m. | Coffee Break

10:35 a.m. - 11:20 a.m. | Session II: Aortopathies 

Moderator:
Jonathan Weinsaft, M.D.
A.M. Gotto Professor of Medicine, Atherosclerosis and Lipid Research, Chief, Cardiology, Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Speakers:

Leonard Girardi, M.D.
O. Wayne Isom ProfessorChairman, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Cardiothoracic Surgeon-in-Chief Weill Cornell Medicine/ NewYork-Presbyterian

"Aortic surgery in the aortopathy population: nuances and outcomes”

Philip S. Tsao, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Medicine, Division Cardiovascular Medicine Stanford University.

“Genetic and molecular mechanisms of AAA disease”.

Nupoor Narula, M.D., M.Sc.
Assistant Professor of Medicine, The Bruce B. Lerman, M.D. Clinical Scholar, Weill Cornell Medicine.

“Distinct risks of types A and B dissection in marfan syndrome”.

Panel Discussion

11:25 a.m. - 12:10 p.m. | Session III: Imaging and Outcomes

Moderator:

Jiwon Kim, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Weill Cornell Medicine

Speakers:

Thomas Cappola, M.D., ScM
William Smilow Professor, Chief, Cardiovascular Division, University of Pennsylvania

“Sex-specific genetic modifiers of cardiomyopathy—an unexpected journey”

Jessica Peña, M.D.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division
Weill Cornell Medicine

“Thinking outside the heart: breast arterial calcifications as markers of cardiovascular risk” 

Latha Palaniappan, M.D., M.S.
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) and by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University

"Highlights from the American Heart Association stats update”.

Panel Discussion

12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. | Lunch

1:15 p.m. - 1:20 p.m. | Afternoon Introduction

Joseph Wu, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor and Professor of Radiology, Stanford University.

1:20 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. | Session IV: Arrhythmia

Moderator:
Bruce Lerman, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division, Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian

Speakers:
Ching Zhu, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine. Cardiology, Duke University

"Neural control of arrhythmia susceptibility: patterns and mechanisms”.

Jim Cheung, M.D.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Weill Cornell Medicine

"Journey from bedside to bench to bedside: modeling malignant idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias"

Saman Nazarian, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine), Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

“Lipomatous metaplasia and arrhythmia”.

Shuibing Chen, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemical Biology in Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine

“Human pluripotent stem cells derived pacemaker cells”

Panel Discussion

2:25 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. | Session V: Congenital/Development 

Moderator:
Harsimran Singh, M.D.
David S. Blumenthal Assistant Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine

Speakers:
Sean Wu, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics (Cardiovascular Medicine) Stanford University

“Deconvoluting the plasma-derived cell free transcriptome".

David Frank M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology), University of Pennsylvania

“Embryonic development and the pathological and regenerative potential of the pulmonary veins”

Michael Harrison, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Faculty Member
Weill Cornell Medicine

“Coronary vasculature formation and its role in shaping the cardiac chambers”

Panel Discussion

3:15 p.m. - 3:35 p.m. | Coffee Break

3:35 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. | Session VI: Lightning Early Career Talks

Moderator
Bernhard Kuhn, M.D.
David Wallace-Starr Foundation Professor of Pediatric Clinical Cardiology
Weill Cornell Medicine

EC talk 1

Senthil Selvaraj, MD, MS, MA

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Duke University

“Effects Of Exogenous Ketone Therapy On Exercise Capacity and Fuel Metabolism in HFpEF: KETO-HFpEF”

EC talk 2

Nazish Sayed M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Assistant Professor, Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Stanford University

"Endothelial – cardiomyocyte crosstalk in long COVID".

EC talk 3

Mohan Satish, M.D.

Fellow in Cardiovascular Diseases, Weill Cornell Medicine 

“Traditional and Nontraditional Risk Factors in Acute Myocardial Infarction in Young Adults” 

EC talk 4

Deborah Eaton, Ph.D., M.S.

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania

"Defining myocardial changes in presumed HFpEF patients".

EC talk 5

Natalia Pakharukova, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral researcher, Lefkowitz Lab, Duke University Medical Center

“Mechanism of beta-arrestin1 mediated Src activation"

EC talk 6

Patricia Nguyen, M.D.

Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University

“Combined delivery of vascular stem/progenitor cells rescues ischemic tissue”

EC talk 7

Jeffrey Abrahams, M.D.

T32 Cardiovascular Fellow at the Long Lab, CVRI, Weill Cornell Medicine 

“Models to Explore Role of H3K27me3 Demethylation on Cardiomyocyte Differentiation​”

EC talk 8

Wumesh KC, Ph.D.

University of Pennsylvania

“Unraveling immunologic mechanisms in cardiac sarcoidosis through deep immune profiling”

4:15 p.m. - 5:05 p.m. | Session VII: Computational Biology 

Moderator:  

Ashley Beecy, M.D.

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Weill Cornell Medicine

Speakers:

Trine Krogh-Madsen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Research in Physiology and Biophysics
Weill Cornell Medicine

"Electrophysiological heterogeneity of single stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes"

Olivier Elemento, Ph.D.

Professor of Computational Genomics in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine
Weill Cornell Medicine

Sanjiv Narayan, M.D.
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine), Stanford University

"Bioengineering to Bridge Cardiovascular Physiology to Clinical Care” 

Panel Discussion

5:05 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. | Poster Session

6:30 p.m. | Dinner for Symposium Speakers

9:00 a.m. - 9:05 a.m. -Introduction  

Daniel Kelly, M.D.

Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Director, Penn and CHOP Cardiovascular Institutes, University of Pennsylvania

9:05 - 10:20 a.m. --Session VII: Regenerative Medicine/ RNA Biology

Moderator: Shahin Rafii, M.D.

Arthur B. Belfer Professor in Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine 

Speakers: 

Jingli Cao, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, CVRI Faculty Member, Weill Cornell Medicine

“Epicardial lineages in heart development and regeneration”.

Maria Basil, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care), University of Pennsylvania

“The development and funcKon of the human respiratory airways”

Yicheng Long, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, CVRI Faculty Member, Weill Cornell Medicine

"Epigenetic regulation of cardiac development by Polycomb complexes"

Conrad Hodgkinson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Professor of Pathology, Duke University 

"Cardiac regeneration: replacing scar with muscle via reprogramming"

Samie Jaffrey, M.D., Ph.D.

Greenberg-Starr Professor, Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine

"An engineered splicing system for new drug-controlled gene therapies" 

Panel Discussion

10:15 a.m. - 10:40 a.m. --Coffee break

10:40 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.-- Keynote Speaker Introduction

Geoffrey Pitt, M.D., Ph.D.

Ida and Theo Rossi Distinguished Professor of Medicine; Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine

10:45 a.m. - 11:35 a.m. - Keynote Speaker: Anthony Fauci, M.D.

Distinguished University Professor
Georgetown University
School of Medicine, Department of Medicine
McCourt School of Public Policy

Former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and former Chief Medical Advisor to the President, WCM Alumni

“HIV/AIDS: Science, Policy, and a Personal 43 Year Journey”.

11:35 a.m. - 12:25 p.m.- Session VIII: Stem Cells/ Precision Medicine/ Gene Editing

Moderator: Howard Rockman, M.D.

Edward S. Orgain Distinguished Professor of Cardiology, Duke University School of Medicine

Speakers:

Joseph Wu, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor of Medicine & Radiology, Stanford University.

“Stem cells & genomics: from precision medicine to clinical trials in dish”

Kiran Musunuru, M.D, Ph.D., MPH, ML

Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine), Director, Cardiovascular Institute's Genetic and Epigenetic Origins of Disease Program, University of Pennsylvania

“Precision Gene Editing Therapies”

Walter Koch, Ph.D.

Professor in Surgery, Duke University

“Small Molecule Targeted Inhibition of GRK2 for Heart Failure”

Panel Discussion

12:25 p.m. - 1:25 p.m. --Lunch

1:25 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. --Afternoon Intro

Howard Rockman, M.D.

Director, Cardiovascular Research Center, Edward D. Orgain Distinguished Professor of Cardiology, Duke University School of Medicine

1:30 p.m. -   2:20 p.m. -Session VIII- Pulmonary Hypertension

Moderator: Evelyn Horn, M.D.

Professor of Clinical Medicine, Cardiology Division, Weill Cornell Medicine

Sudarshan Rajagopal, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Duke University

"Understanding Pathobiology to Drive Drug Discovery in CTEPH"

Mark Reisman, M.D.

Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division, Weill Cornell Medicine

“The Emergence of transcatheter treatments for Tricuspid Regurgitation”

Edda Spiekerkoetter, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine), Stanford University

"3D Imaging reveals complex microvascular remodeling in the right ventricle in pulmonary hypertension”

Panel Discussion

2:20 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. | Session XI: Cardio-Metabolism

Moderator: James Lo. M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division, CVRI Faculty Member, Weill Cornell Medicine

Speakers:
Christopher Newgard, Ph.D.
W. David and Sarah W. Stedman Distinguished Professor of Nutrition in the School of Medicine, Duke University.

"Sexual dimorphism in branched-chain amino acid metabolism and cardiometabolic disease risk”.

Daniel Kelly, M.D.

Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor, Perelman School of Medicine
Director, Penn Cardiovascular Institute
University of Pennsylvania

“Targeting fuel metabolism in the failing heart”

Paul Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
Albert Resnick, M.D. Associate Professor
Head, Weslie R. and William H. Janeway Laboratory of Molecular Metabolism, The Rockefeller University

“The role of brown fat in cardiovascular health”

Panel discussion

3:15 p.m. - 3:20 p.m. | Closing Remarks

Todd Evans, Ph.D.
Peter I Pressman, M.D., Professor in Surgery
Vice Chair for Research, Chief Division of Research
Weill Cornell Medicine