Dr. Julie Freed named 2018 Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Scholar
22nd annual Cullen Run raises $35,580 for cardiovascular research
Julie Freed, MD, PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology, is the recipient of the 2018 Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Scholar Award to fund her research on the treatment of life-threatening low blood pressure. Dr. Freed is a member of the Cardiovascular Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and an alumna of MCW.
A total of $50,000 will fund her project testing vitamin B12 in treating dangerously low blood pressure caused by blood infections. For the grant, $25,000 comes from the Cullen Scholar Fund, which honors the memory of former Milwaukee Alderman Steve Cullen who died suddenly of a heart attack at age 40, and another $25,000 from a grant awarded to the Cardiovascular Center by the Research Education Program Fund, a component of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at MCW.
Established in 2015, the Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Scholar Award is a competitive annual research grant for cardiovascular research within the Cardiovascular Center. The $25,000 award comes from the Cullen Family Healthy Heart Research Program and proceeds of the annual Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Club Run & Walk.
The 22nd annual Cullen Run & Walk in February 2018 raised more than $35,000. The remainder of the proceeds will support the training of the next generation of cardiovascular scientists through the Cullen Summer Research Fellowship for Medical Students, part of MCW’s Medical Student Summer Research Program, and the Cullen Diversity Summer Research Fellowship, part of MCW’s Diversity Summer Health-Related Research Education Program, a research internship for undergraduate students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in biomedical science.
The 23rd annual Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Club Run/Walk will be held on Feb. 9, 2019.
Dr. Julie Freed (right) and research technologist Mary Schulz (left) discuss the project funded by the Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Scholar Award in Dr. Freed’s laboratory in the MCW Cardiovascular Center.