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
2022–2023 Trainees
Arden Piepho (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Charles Rabolli (mentor Dr. Federica Accornero)
Rebecca Shaheen (mentor Dr. Tom Hund)
Shane Scott (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith)
Lorien Salyer (mentor Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki)
Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo)
Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Felix Yang (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
Previous Trainees
2021-2022 Trainees
Randa Breikaa (mentor Dr. Brenda Lilly)Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Miguel Lopez (mentor Dr. Noah Weisleder)
Somayya Mohammad (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith)
Lorien Salyer (mentor Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki)
Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo)
2020-2021 Trainees 2019-2020 Trainees
Randa Breikaa (mentor Dr. Brenda Lilly) Amanda Huang (mentor Dr. Paul Janssen)Zachary Howard (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Kelsey Pinckard (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
Miguel Lopez (mentor Dr. Noah Weisleder) Miguel Lopez (mentor Dr. Noah Weisleder)
Adrianna Matos-Nieves (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg) Adrianna Matos-Nieves (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg)
Somayya Mohammad (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith) Zachary Howard (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Kelsey Pinckard (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford) Nehal Patel (mentor Dr. Tom Hund)
2018-2019 Trainees 2017-2018 Trainees
Lisa Dorn (mentor Dr. Federica Accornero) Vidhya Kumar (mentor Dr. Subha Raman)Zachary Howard (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Brian Hansen (mentor Dr. Vadim Fedorov)
Emily Nordquist (mentor Dr. Joy Lincoln)
Nehal Patel (mentor Dr. Tom Hund)
T32 Mentors
Jill Rafael-Fortney, PhD Brandon Biesiadecki, PhD
Isabelle Deschenes, PhD Martha Belury, PhD
Jonathan Davis, PhD Rebecca Jackson, MD
Cynthia Carnes, PharmD Willa Hsueh, MD
Brenda Lilly, PhD Peter Mohler, PhD
Paul Janssen, PhD Vidu Garg, MD
Thomas Hund, PhD Loren Wold, PhD
Sandor Gyorke, PhD Noah Weisleder, PhD
Mark Ziolo, PhD
Participating Faculty
Federica Accornero, PhD Kedryn Baskin, PhD
Vadim Fedorov, PhD Shyam S. Bansal, PhD
Kristin Stanford, PhD Nuo Sun, PhD
Sakima Smith, MD Sarah Heissler, PhD
Kathleen Dungan, MD, MPH Joshua J. Joseph, MD, MPH
Karolina M. Zareba, MD
Clinical Mentors
Linda Cripe, MD Karolina M. Zareba, MD
Tom Ryan, MD Joshua J. Joseph, MD, MPH
May Mah, MD Yuchi Han, MD
William Abraham, MD Scott Lilly, MD, PhD
Kan Hor, MD Sakima Smith, MD
Cardiac Predoc T32 Professional Development Workshops Autumn 2022
Professional Development workshops are MONDAYS from 3:00 to 5:00 in DHLRI 165September 12, 2022 Fellowship Writing: The Biosketch, Research Plan, Applicant Background and Training Goals and
Trainee Experiences (Brandon Biesiadecki, PhD, Jill Rafael-Fortney, PhD, Olga Golubeva, and
Miguel Lopez Perez)
October 3, 2022 Implicit Bias (Valencia Walker, MD, MPH)
October 31, 2022 Social Styles: Impact on Teams and Leadership (Paula Butterfield, Ph.D., PCC)
December 5, 2022 Cardiovascular Scientist Career Paths: Sharlene Day, M.D., Presidential Associate Professor,
Perelman School of Medicine, U. Penn
Previous Workshops:
Managing Energy Rather than Time (Paula Butterfield, PhD, PCC); Negotiation Book Discussion “Women Don’t Ask” by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever (Jill Rafael-Fortney and Brandon Biesiadecki); Social Media for Research and Networking (Joey Dillon and Adrianna Matos); Interviewing / Hiring practices (Ira Isaacson, MD, MBA, SVP/Partner Philips, DiPisa & Associates); The states of consciousness as a leadership tool (Paula Butterfield, PhD, PCC); Work life balance and time-management peer discussion; Fellowship Writing: The Biosketch, Research Plan, Applicant Background, Training Goals and The Individualized Development Plan (Drs. Jill Rafael-Fortney and Brandon Biesiadecki); Interviewing Skills, Ira Isaacson, MD, MBA, SVP/Partner Philips, DiPisa & Associates (postponed until Autumn 2020 due to COVID-19); Cardiovascular Scientist Career Paths: R. John Solaro, PhD, Distinguished University Professor, The University of Illinois at Chicago; Book Discussion on “Ask For It” by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever; Advanced Strategies for Increasing Energy Levels, Paula Butterfield, PhD, PCC; Collaborating: Best Practices; Developing Leadership and Gender Based Obstacles; Implicit Bias; Managing Energy Rather Than Time; Leading and the Power of 'And'; Work Life Balance; Managing Assumptions; Manuscript Review; Book Discussions of Women Don’t Ask and The Confidence Code; Career Path Discussions by Prominent Women Scientists: Jil Tardiff, Story Landis, Joanna Groden; Team Toxins and What You Can Do About Them, Paula Butterfield, PhD, PCC; Careers in Industry: Aaron Hinken, Ph.D., Head, Muscle Metabolism, GSK; and Research Integrity, Julia Behnfeldt, Ph.D. Associate Director & Research Integrity Officer, Office of Research Compliance; Preparing and Managing Budgets; Implicit Bias; Enneagram Personality Traits; Careers in Industry (Kate Cygnar, Ph.D., Director at Regeneron Pharma)