Victor J. Dzau, M.D., president of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), will present “Rebuilding the Failing Heart: Bypassing Roadblocks in Cardiac Cell Therapy” at the 2016 Frontiers of Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Seminar at UAB on Friday, August 19 at 8:30 a.m. in the West Pavilion Conference Center, Room E.In addition to his position as president of NAM, Dzau serves as chair of the Health and Medicine Division Committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He is chancellor emeritus and James B. Duke Professor of Medicine at Duke University and the past president and CEO of the Duke University Health System. Previously, Dzau was the Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine and chairman of Medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University.
Dzau has made a significant impact on medicine through his seminal research in cardiovascular medicine and genetics, his pioneering of the discipline of vascular medicine and his leadership in health care innovation. His important work on the renin angiotensin system (RAS) paved the way for the contemporary understanding of RAS in cardiovascular disease and the development of RAS inhibitors as widely used, lifesaving drugs. Dzau also pioneered gene therapy for vascular disease, and his recent work on stem cell paracrine mechanisms and the use of microRNA in direct reprogramming provides novel insight into stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.
Frontiers of Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Seminar is sponsored by the UAB Department of Biomedical Engineering.