Mentor: Dr. Elena Aikawa
I am a Research Fellow at the Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences in the Cardiovascular Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. I graduated from Queen’s University in Canada with a Bachelor of Sciences Honours in Life Sciences and Mathematics and then went on to complete a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology under the supervision of Drs. Michael Adams and Rachel Holden. I was a recipient of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Vanier Scholarship. My research focus was translational experimentation in chronic kidney disease mineral bone disorder and subsequent medial vascular calcification and the generation of novel diagnostic tools thereof. My dissertation was awarded the Canadian Governor General’s Gold Medal.
Following my PhD in September 2021, I relocated to the United States to complete a fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Elena Aikawa at the Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences. I am using “omics” techniques and molecular and extracellular vesicle approaches to study cardiovascular calcification. I am specifically excited about studying (1) extracellular vesicle mediated cell cross talk in vascular calcification and (2) the impact of chronic kidney disease on the pathophysiology calcified aortic valve disease. I am excited about revealing future insights in pathophysiology cardiovascular calcification and identifying therapeutic targets to address this currently unmet clinical need.
Keywords
- Extracellular vesicles
- vascular calcification
- valvular calcification
- chronic kidney disease