About the Cardiovascular Center

Created in 1992, the Cardiovascular Center (CVC) is currently receiving more than $20 million in NIH funding from 54 grants. Starting in July 2010, the Kidney Disease Center (KDC) began operating under the umbrella of the CVC, which brings the number of associated clinicians to over 100 with 72 research scientists from many departments and divisions throughout the College who focus on the prevention, detection, treatment and cure of the large family of cardiovascular diseases. This includes diseases of the heart, kidneys, lungs, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes.

2012 CVC Annual Report
 

Mission Statement

The mission of the Cardiovascular Center is to further develop strong and nationally recognized interdisciplinary cardiovascular research programs at MCW and to promote comparable excellence in clinical care and education while developing Community outreach.
 

Specific ongoing areas of research at the CVC include:

• Atherosclerosis
• Cardiac regeneration
• Cardiac transplantation
• Chronic renal disease
• Vascular biology
• Development of new blood vessels (angiogenesis)
• Diabetes
• Genetics of hypertension
• Heart attack (ischemic heart disease)
• Heart development
• Genetic risk factors of heart malformations
• Heart failure
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Ischemic kidney disease
• Pulmonary vascular diseases (pulmonary hypertension)
• Intracellular signaling pathways
• Stem cells
• Stroke (cerebral vascular disease)

The CVC will continue to move forward and serve as the campus incubator to stimulate exchange and nurture new ideas and to develop novel research programs in basic, translational, and clinical research. This year has seen the development of an expanded long-range strategic plan for CVC programmatic expansion with appropriate input from internal and external experts, key faculty leaders, community leaders and MCW leadership. This includes importantly the recruitment of distinguished extramurally funded faculty to lead CV research programs in key areas (such as stem cell and heart failure) in partnership with the relevant Department Chairs and other Center Directors, as well as a marked increase in NIH-funded research over the next few years.

CVC Scientific Advisory Committee

The CVC Scientific Advisory Committee will help achieve the objectives outlined above. It is comprised of the following MCW Faculty:

• Ellis D. Avner, MD, Associate Dean of Research, Professor of Pediatrics
• Joseph Besharse, PhD, Chairman of Cell Biology, Neurosciences and Anatomy
• William Campbell, PhD, Chairman of Pharmacology
• Michael Cinquegrani, MD, Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine
• Stephen Duncan, PhD, Professor of Cell Biology
• Andrew Greene, PhD, Director of the Bioengineering and Biotechnology Center
• David Gutterman, MD, Professor in Cardiology, Senior Associate Dean for Research
• David Harder, PhD, Professor of Physiology, Associate Dean for Research Mentoring
• Howard Jacob, PhD, Director of the Human and Molecular Genetics Center
• Elizabeth Jacobs, MD, Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
• Michael E. Mitchell, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery
• Ramani Ramchandran, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Developmental Biology/Human Molecular Embryology
• David Warltier, MD, Chairman of Anesthesiology
• Gilbert White, MD, Director of Research of Blood Research Center
• Michael Widlansky, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor Cardiovascular Medicine