On August 15, the Department of Biomedical Engineering hosted Joseph Wu, M.D., Ph.D., president of the American Heart Association, director of Stanford University’s Cardiovascular Institute, Simon H. Stertzer, M.D., Professor and professor of radiology, to give a the season’s first “Frontiers in Bioengineering” lecture. Wu spoke on the topic, “Stem Cells & Genomics: from Precision Medicine to Clinical Trial in Dish.”
Wu’s visit came on the heels of the AHA’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions in Boston, held at the end of July. Jianyi “Jay” Zhang, Endowed Chair, BME, is chair of the BCVS. He met with several UAB BME faculty members, including Yajing Wang, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA, Professor, and Director, Basic and Translational Research, Lei Ye, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Mary-Katheryn-Sewell-Loftin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, and Manual Rosa-Garrido, Ph.D., Assistant Professor. In addition, Wu spent time with Anupam Agarwal, M.D., Senior Vice President for Medicine and Dean, James C. Lee Jr. Endowed Chair, UAB Heersink School of Medicine.
In his talk, Wu discussed the current state of research and clinical trials including upcoming FDA regulation changes on animal testing in labs. This included information from an article about his research published in the Washington Post on the day of his visit, “’Asian glow’ from alcohol isn’t just a discomfort. It’s a severe warning.”
From the Department of Medicine, Wu also met with David Pollock, Ph.D., James A. Schafer NRTC Endowed Professor, Director, Cardio-Renal Physiology and Medicine, Co-Director, UAB Hypertension Research Center in the Division of Nephrology, and with Andrea Cherrington, M.D., MPH, Interim Division Director, Preventive Medicine. He spent time with Alan Tita, M.D., Ph.D., Mary Heersink Endowed Chair of Global Health and OBGYN Professor, Associate Dean, Global and Women’s Health, UAB Heersink School of Medicine and Rachel Sinkey, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of OB/GYN, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and Department of Health Policy & Organization, UAB School of Public Health.
Wu also spent time getting to know the UAB AHA Trainee Awardees: Jiacheng Sun, graduate trainee, Sarojini Singh, postdoctoral trainee, Meimei Wang, graduate student trainee, and Johane Bracamonte Baran, postdoctoral trainee.