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Ivor Benjamin Lab

Dr. Benjamin has been a champion by providing leadership to broaden the global reach of biomedical research in efforts to reduce death and disability from cardiovascular diseases, stroke and other brain disorders.

He is a primary investigator for other major cardiovascular research projects including a $4 million award funded by the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment. Recently, he completed his term as president of the Association of University Cardiologists and is now serving a year-long tenure as the American Heart Association’s 82nd president.

BenjaminLab

CVC In The News

Dr. Ivor Benjamin onstage at Apple product launch
Watch Dr. Benjamin introduce new functionality that provides the ability for people to access health data from an on-demand Electrocardiogram (ECG).

The State of Heart Research
Milwaukee's NPR radio program Lake Effect speaks with Ivor Benjamin, MD, Director of the MCW Cardiovascular Center about the state of cardiovascular research and the national push to train the general population in CPR and the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

IvorBenjamin_Portrait_2018

Ivor Benjamin, MD, FAHA, FACC
Director, Cardiovascular Center
Professor, Medicine, Physiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, and Surgery
Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin
ibenjamin@mcw.edu

Dr. Ivor Benjamin is the Director of the Cardiovascular Center, co-director of the NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiovascular Sciences and co-leader of the CVC’s Signature Program in Precision Cardiovascular Medicine. He is a Professor of Medicine, Physiology, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, and Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Benjamin earned his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and received fellowship training in clinical cardiology, molecular cardiology, and molecular biology at Michael Reese Hospital (University of Chicago), Duke University Medical Center, and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. A certified specialist and consultant in internal medicine and cardiology, his clinical interests are general cardiology, inheritable heart failure, and myocardial infarction. His research focuses on genes encoding heat shock proteins and oxido-reductive stress response pathways of direct relevance to genetic forms of heart disease, cardiotoxicological science and precision medicine.

An Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, Dr. Benjamin’s longstanding and distinguished career as a physician scientist has taken him across the country, including 10 years at the University of Utah School of Medicine where he was named the Division Chief of Cardiology and the Christi T. Smith Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine. He is the recipient of countless honors including the Award of Merit from the American Heart Association, the Daniel Savage Memorial Service Award from the Association of Black Cardiologists, and the prestigious NIH Director's Pioneer Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of Cecil Essential of Medicine 9th Edition and has authored over 130 books, book chapters and scientific papers. Dr. Benjamin is a founding member of the Journal of the American Heart Association, and he currently serves on the editorial boards of Circulation and Circulation Research.

Qiang Dai

Qiang Dai, PhD
Research Associate II
qdai@mcw.edu

Our laboratory has longstanding interests in the role that stress response (HSF/HSP) pathways play in the development, progression, and, ultimately, the prevention of acquired and inheritable cardiac diseases. My studies of genetically engineered mouse models and somatic cell cultures are exploring the mechanisms underlying the effects of genetic, metabolic (e.g., redox), and other perturbations in ischemic cardioprotection and heart failure.

 

Elizabeth Schibly

Elizabeth Schibly

Shuping Lai

Shuping Lai, PhD
Research Associate II
slai@mcw.edu

My research project aims on modeling cardiac diseases in a culture dish by utilizing patient specimens. We are creating cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells, differentiate them into cardiomyocytes and use them as a means to mimic the disease in a dish. My major interests are drug-screenings and biochemical assays to exhibit different susceptibilities of cardiac cells to cardiac drugs, to predict adverse drug responses more accurately and to find best suitable drugs for cardiac diseases.

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Former Trainees
  • Melinda Choi | Second-Year Medical Student (MSII), Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Kurt Kolander
  • Katie Mitzelfelt, PhD | Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Washington, Dr. Chuck Murry's Laboratory
  • Mai Thao, PhD | Senior Chemist, Medtronic

Recent Publications