Research Expertise & Mentors

One of the greatest strengths of the UC San Diego site is the involvement of our highly successful research faculty who will serve as mentors for the FOCUS program.  UC San Diego is one of the nation's top research institutions , and our research faculty mentors have a variety of expertise in cardiovascular research.

Research Expertise

The list below shows sample research expertise available at UC San Diego. This is not a comprehensive list, and we encourage you to explore the various UC San Diego departments and their faculty research expertise using the links found at the end of this web page.

vascular cell biology
caveolae and caveolins
cell matrix and cell-cell adhesion
signaling in heart failure
mechanisms of cardiac disease and development
stem cells
heart development and regeneration
transcription factors
mitochondria and heart failure
structure of cardiac muscle
electrical and mechanical function of the heart

mechanobiology and computational modeling of the heart
cell survival and growth
ischemia and reperfusion
cardiac aging
genetic-basis of cardiac disease
hemodynamics and inflammation in vascular disease
cardioprotection
etiologies and treatment of congenital heart diseases

Potential Research Mentors

Applicants to the program are encouraged to explore the various UC San Diego departments and their faculty research expertise using the links found at the end of this web page.

A sample of potential research mentors from a campus-wide pool for the UC San Diego FOCUS program are found in the table and links below. This is not an exhaustive list of available mentors.

Anesthesiology

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Hemal Patel, PhD	The role of caveolae and caveolins
David Roth, MD, PhD	Cell survival and growth in ischemia and reperfusion injury, heart failure, and aging

Bioengineering

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Adam Engler, PhD	Stem cells in cardiovascular disease
Andrew McCulloch, PhD	Structure of cardiac muscle; electrical and mechanical function of the heart

Biology

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Deborah Yelon, PhD	Molecular mechanisms of cardiac development to provide insight to etiologies and treatment of congenital heart diseases.

Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Christopher Glass, MD, PhD	Transcription factors and co-regulators in function and differentiation of macrophages
Peter Novick, PhD	Molecular mechanism of membrane traffic, and how it relates to cell polarity; structure and inheritance of the endoplasmic reticulum

Family Medicine and Public Health

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Matthew Allison, MD	Prevention cardiovascular disease, related to atherosclerosis, metabolism and body composition, kidney disease, women's health and racial/ethnic disparities

Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Cheryl Anderson, PhD	Prevention of cardiovascular disease, related to diet, lifestyle and behavioral factors

Medicine

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Ju Chen, PhD	Molecular basis of cardiac disease
Neil Chi, MD, PhD	Molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases and the development.
Joachim Ix, MD, MAS	Kidney tubule health and its impact on cardiovascular and kidney disease outcomes
Kevin King, MD, PhD	Heart attack, metabolic disease, asthma, autoimmunity, and cancer
Ayako Makino, PhD	Coronary endothelial dysfunction in diabetes and pulmonary hypertension
Atul Malhotra, MD	Sleep medicine, obstructive sleep apnea
Jeffrey Omens, PhD	Cardiac mechanics, mechanobiology and computational modeling of heart disease
Jesus Rivera-Nieves, MD	Inflammation and inflammatory signaling
Robert Ross, MD	Cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion in the adult and developing myocardium
Sanford Shattil, MD	Signaling through integrin adhesion receptors in development, vascular biology and cancer
Farah Sheikh, PhD	Biomechanical stress responses in cardiac muscle and genetic-based cardiac disease
John Shyy, PhD	Hemodynamics and Inflammation in vascular disease
Volker Vallon, MD	Diabetic nephropathy, hypertension, serum and glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1, glucose transport, organic anion transport, purine receptors
Francisco Villarreal, MD, PhD	Cardioprotection
Jason Yuan, MD, PhD	Pulmonary arterial hypertension

Pediatrics

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Adriana Tremoulet, MD	Inflammation, pediatric pharmacology, Kawasaki disease and coronary artery disease, clinical trials

Pharmacology

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Joan Heller Brown, PhD	G Protein signaling in heart failure inflammation and cancer
Richard Daneman, PhD	Blood-brain barrier, cerebrovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disease, stroke
Silvio Gutkind, PhD	Cell signaling, protein engineering, structure
JoAnn Trejo, PhD	Signaling vascular biology

Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SSPPS)

Faculty Name	Research Interest
Sylvia Evans, PhD	Genetic pathways underlying heart development; congenital and adult heart disease
Asa Gustafsson, PhD	Mitochondria and heart failure

Explore Faculty Research

For a comprehensive list of faculty and specific research, please visit the following departments directly:

Also, please visit the IRACDA website for additional mentor choices.