As a SUNY Distinguished Professor, I am involved in the clinical, teaching and research programs is the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University at Buffalo. I care for patients at the Gates Vascular Institute (GVI) of Buffalo General Medical Center (BGMC), the Buffalo VA Medical Center (VAMC) and I am a member of the UBMD clinical practice. My clinical areas of expertise are in diagnosing and caring for patients with coronary artery disease and heart failure.

My research group conducts bench to bedside translational studies directed at advancing our mechanistic understanding of cardiac pathophysiology as well as developing new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the management of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease. Our ongoing areas of preclinical investigation apply proteomic approaches to identify intrinsic adaptive responses of the heart to ischemia and studies examining the ability of intracoronary stem cell therapies to stimulate endogenous cardiomyocyte proliferation and improve heart function. We are particularly interested in understanding how elevations in heart filling pressures and reversible ischemia lead to cardiomyocyte cell death and heart dysfunction. We also conduct basic and patient-oriented research to understand how chronic ischemia modifies the cellular composition and sympathetic innervation of the heart to help develop new approaches to identify patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest from ventricular fibrillation using positron emission tomography in the UB Center for Biomedical Imaging.

Our overall goal is to use advanced cardiac imaging to translate new applications between the bench and bedside in order to identify new imaging biomarkers of pathophysiological processes such as chronic myocardial ischemia and cardiac arrhythmogenesis.

In addition to my laboratory investigation, I serve as the deputy director of the UB Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the director of the UB Translational Imaging Center. I am engaged in the cardiology profession at national and international levels, including study sections of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, professional guidelines committees and served as former president of the Association of Professors of Cardiology.

Apoptosis and cell death, Cardiac pharmacology, Cardiology, Cardiovascular Disease, Gene therapy, Genomics and proteomics, Molecular Basis of Disease, Stem Cells

Adults, Seniors/Elderly

Physician Gender:

Male