Signature Program in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease
The Signature Program in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease includes
basic, clinical, and translational research, as well as population based
outcomes research and community outreach activities.
The MISSION of this program is to support and enhance the activities
of investigators at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
who are pursuing important, clinically relevant research questions focusing
on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease. This program aims to enhance
the collaborative inter-disciplinary scientific interactions within the
institution, to increase the level of junior faculty mentorship and support
and to promote the development of new areas of research strength.
Program
Members
Programmatic Goals
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To establish an electronic database of cardiovascular and metabolic
disease investigators at the University of New Mexico which will serve
as an information resource for members within and outside of the program.
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To support new and emerging areas of research related to cardiovascular
and metabolic disease through the establishment of a pilot project
grants program.
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To facilitate communication and the exchange of information and ideas
between investigators in the program through the establishment of
an annual cardiovascular and metabolic disease research symposium.
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To provide administrative support for obtaining increased extramural
funding for new multidisciplinary research and to establish relationships
with the community-at-large in an effort to increase support for ongoing
program activities.
Key Areas of Research Focus
This program is structured to include basic science research, clinical/translational
research and population/outcomes research and community outreach activities.
Cardiovascular Disease:
I. Vascular Remodeling and Altered Vascular Reactivity in conditions
such as Hypertension, Sleep apnea and other hypoxic disorders, Diabetes,
Aging, Heart Disease, Chronic kidney disease and Stroke.
II. Improving the diagnosis and treatment of vascular alterations in
Cerebrovascular, Cardiac and Chronic kidney disease.
III. Population/Outcomes Research and Community Outreach studies focused
on vascular disease surveillance, intervention and education, the prevention
of obesity, the promotion of Healthy lifestyles, nutrition and physical
activity and tobacco use prevention.
Metabolic Disease:
I. Clinical/Translational studies focusing on diabetes diagnosis, management
and treatment.
II. The mechanisms and treatment of diabetic complications including
retinopathy, nephropathy, peripheral vascular disease, heart disease
and stroke.
III. The mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of chronic kidney diseases
including the role of inflammation and cellular stress.
IV. Basic science investigations of lipoprotein catabolism and adipocyte
differentiation.
V. Population/Outcomes Research and Community Outreach studies focused
on diabetes surveillance, intervention and education, the prevention
of obesity and the promotion of healthy lifestyles: nutrition and physical
activity.
Program Highlights
The various components of the program are supported by numerous grants
and contracts from a variety of sources including the NIH, CDC, EPA, American
Heart Assn., American Diabetes Assn, and various pharmaceutical companies.
Many of these grants are interdisciplinary and involve numerous faculty
members from diverse departments and divisions within and outside of the
Health Sciences Center.
The General Clinical Research
Center and the Clinical Trials Center (CTC) is heavily used and supports
many of the clinical/translational studies carried out by investigators
in this program.
The Prevention Research Center
is a long standing center at UNM with extensive outside support from NIH,
CDC, USDA and other sources for conducting community-based intervention
trials, surveillance and translational research addressing the prevention
of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Education and training includes
community and university-based activities.
The training activities of the basic science component of the program
in Cardiovascular Disease are supported by a Cardiovascular Biology training
grant in it’s 11th consecutive year of funding and includes 19 faculty
mentors from the School of Medicine, College of Pharmacy and The Lovelace
Respiratory Research Institute.
Program Steering Committee
Dominic Raj: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology
Paul McGuire: Department of Cell Biology and Physiology
Retu Saxena: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Benjimen Walker: Department of Cell Biology and Physiology
Mary Walker: College of Pharmacy
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