Local Researcher Named 2019 Cullen Healthy Heart Scholar; 23rd Annual Cullen Run Raises $41,285 for Cardiovascular Research

Milwaukee, June 18, 2019 – Alison Kriegel, PhD, is the recipient of the 2019 Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Scholar Award to fund her research investigating the mechanisms by which chronic kidney disease (CKD) contributes to cardiovascular risk.

Dr. Kriegel is a member of the Cardiovascular Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), an associate professor in the Department of Physiology and an alumna of MCW. A total of $50,000 will fund her project to identify biomarkers in the blood that predict CKD patients at the highest risk of suffering cardiovascular events. The goal of the project is to identify new therapeutic targets to mitigate cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death amongst CKD patients.

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 23rd Annual Cullen Run & Walk in February 2019 raised more than $41,000. 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, 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 Cullen Summer Research Fellowship for 500 Stars Students, part of MCW’s Clinical & Translational Science Institute’s 500 Stars Summer Internship program, an internship offering hands-on experience working with faculty researchers and research teams conducting real-life studies, and the Cullen Research Opportunity for Academic Development in Science (ROADS) Fellowship, a part of MCW’s ROADS Program, a program designed to provide high school students with a meaningful experience in a research laboratory setting and to stimulate their career interest in science, medicine and biomedical research.

The 24th Annual Steve Cullen Healthy Heart Club Run/Walk will be held February 15, 2020.

Cullen Run Board Chair Gael Garbarino Cullen (center) and her daughters (from left to right) Colleen, Molly, and Annie, and her granddaughter present a $41,285 check to Dr. Ivor Benjamin, director of the Cardiovascular Center at MCW.