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) and the Buffalo VA Medical Center (VAMC). 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 fibrosis. We have demonstrated that the interstitial fibrosis arising from repetitive preload elevation leads to a cardiac phenotype reproducing some of the physiological features of heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction or HFpEF. We are currently examining therapeutic interventions to reverse interstitial fibrosis to improve the reduced left ventricular diastolic distensibility in this model.

Our group also conducts 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 (SCA) from ventricular fibrillation. The Prediction of Arrhythmic Events with Positron Emission Tomography (PAREPET) study found that two imaging variables, myocardial sympathetic denervation and left ventricular volume predicted the risk of having an appropriate ICD discharge for SCA. We are currently extending this in the ongoing PAREPET II study using an F-18 labeled norepinephrine analog with potentially broader implementation than the C-11 analog studied in PAREPET.

In addition to my laboratory investigation, 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