This NIH T32 training grant in the Ohio State's Department of Physiology and Cell Biology will support the training of pre-doctoral students performing cardiovascular research in the laboratories of 18 mentors and five participating faculty from five OSU Colleges and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Up to 24 post-candidacy PhD students will be supported over a five-year period starting in the 2017–2018 academic year. This novel training program has two goals to address fundamental challenges in cardiovascular research today:
- To provide multi-faceted cardiovascular research training to work in collaborative, multidisciplinary teams that will facilitate efficient translation of scientific findings to improve human health.
- To enhance the number of outstanding researchers and leaders by providing training for the advancement of women to all trainees, improving the culture for women to succeed and promoting the retention of women in independent scientific careers in cardiovascular research. This training program has developed novel training mechanisms to encourage clinical interactions, multi-disciplinary teamwork and professional development.
Central to the training plan is a unique program to address the loss of senior women scientists in cardiovascular research by creating a culture in research to promote the success of all scientists. Although the number of women receiving PhDs and MDs has been equal to that of males for several decades, only about 20 percent of these women become full professors and less than 15 percent become involved in leadership. The loss of these senior women accounts for a tremendous loss of expertise that hinders the ability of the research community to develop new therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. This program provides both men and women the skills to foster scientific and professional development in addition to the information to shift their perspective at an early enough career stage to ultimately retain the best and brightest cardiovascular scientists.
Director: Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney, Co-director: Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki
2024-2025 Trainees
Mona Aljuhani (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg)
Benjamin Gilbert (Dr. Vidu Garg)
Dominic Kolonay (mentor Dr. Kedryn Baskin)
Kate Marris (mentor Dr. Martha Belury)
Arden Piepho (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Hannah Sanders (Dr. Kedryn Baskin)
Jenna Thuma (mentor Dr. Jonathan Davis)
Felix Yang (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
Previous Trainees:
2023-2024 Trainees 2022-2023 Trainees
Ashley Greenlee (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith) Arden Piepho (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Jenna Thuma (mentor Dr. Jonathan Davis) Charles Rabolli (mentor Dr. Federica Accornero)
Mona Aljuhani (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg) Rebecca Shaheen (mentor Dr. Tom Hund)
Arden Piepho (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Lorien Salyer (mentor Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki)
Shane Scott (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith) Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo)
Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo) Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Felix Yang (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
Felix Yang (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
2021-2022 Trainees 2020-2021 Trainees
Randa Breikaa (mentor Dr. Brenda Lilly) Randa Breikaa (mentor Dr. Brenda Lilly)
Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Zachary Howard (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Miguel Lopez (mentor Dr. Noah Weisleder) Miguel Lopez (mentor Dr. Noah Weisleder)
Somayya Mohammad (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith) Somayya Mohammad (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith)
Lorien Salyer (mentor Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki) Kelsey Pinckard (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo)
2019-2020 Trainees: 2018-2019 Trainees:
Amanda Huang (mentor Dr. Paul Janssen) Lisa Dorn (mentor Dr. Federica Accornero)
Kelsey Pinckard (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford) Zachary Howard (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Miguel Lopez (mentor Dr. Noah Weisleder) Emily Nordquist (mentor Dr. Joy Lincoln)
Adrianna Matos-Nieves (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg) Nehal Patel (mentor Dr. Tom Hund)
Zachary Howard (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Nehal Patel (mentor Dr. Tom Hund)
2017-2018 Trainees:
Vidhya Kumar (mentor Dr. Subha Raman)
Brian Hansen (mentor Dr. Vadim Fedorov)
Cardiac Predoc T32 Professional Development workshops
Spring 2025
Professional Development workshops are MONDAYS from 3:00 to 5:00 in DHLRI 165.
January 27, 2025 Time Management Peer Discussion
(Brandon Biesiadecki, Ph.D. and Jill Rafael-Fortney, Ph.D.)
February 24, 2025 Leadership Skills: Dealing with Difficult Personalities
(Daniel S. Eiferman MD, MBA, FACS, Professor of Surgery, OSU)
March 17, 2025 Communication Skills: Developing Elevator Pitches for Scientific and Lay Audiences
(Brandon Biesiadecki, Ph.D. and Jill Rafael-Fortney, Ph.D.)
April 7, 2025 Careers in Industry: Sean Little, Ph.D., Clinical Scientist, Bristol Myers Squibb
T32 Mentors
Martha Belury, PhD Paul Janssen, PhD
Brandon Biesiadecki, PhD Brenda Lilly, PhD
Cynthia Carnes, PharmD Peter Mohler, PhD
Jonathan Davis, PhD Jill Rafael-Fortney, PhD
Isabelle Deschenes, PhD Sakima Smith, MD
Vadim Fedorov, PhD Kristin Stanford, PhD
Vidu Garg, MD Noah Weisleder, PhD
Sandor Gyorke, PhD Loren Wold, PhD
Willa Hsueh, MD Mark Ziolo, PhD
Thomas Hund, PhD
Participating Faculty
Kedryn Baskin, PhD Joshua J. Joseph, MD, MPH
Kathleen Dungan, MD, MPH Nuo Sun, PhD
Sarah Heissler, PhD Karolina M. Zareba, MD
Clinical Mentors
Linda Cripe, MD Scott Lilly, MD, PhD
Yuchi Han, MD May Mah, MD
Kan Hor, MD Sakima Smith, MD
Joshua J. Joseph, MD, MPH Karolina M. Zareba, MD
Previous Workshops:
Interviewing / Hiring practices (Ira Isaacson, MD, MBA, SVP/Partner Philips, DiPisa & Associates); Fellowship Writing: The Biosketch, Research Plan, Applicant Background, Training Goals and The Individualized Development Plan (annually); Implicit Bias; Cardiovascular/ Scientist Career Path workshops by: Jil Tardiff, Story Landis, Joanna Groden, R. John Solaro, David Kass; Book Discussions on Negotiation and Confidence; Collaborating: Best Practices; Workshops on Diversity 101; Work Life Balance; Manuscript Review; Careers in Industry: Aaron Hinken, Ph.D., GSK, and Kate Cygnar, Ph.D., Regeneron; Research Integrity, Julia Behnfeldt, Ph.D., Office of Research Compliance; Preparing and Managing Budgets; Social Media for Scientists; and Leadership Workshops by Paula Butterfield, PhD, PCC including: Understanding Social Styles to Excel in Teams and Leadership; Developing Leadership and Gender Based Obstacles; Managing Energy Rather Than Time; Team Toxins and What You Can Do About Them; Leading and the Power of 'And'; Managing Assumptions; Enneagram Personality Traits; The states of consciousness as a leadership tool.