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 19 mentors and 6 participating faculty from five OSU Colleges and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Up to 48 post-candidacy PhD students will be supported over a ten-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 supporting 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 to foster scientific and professional development, improving retention of PhD trainees in independent cardiovascular research scientific careers.
To achieve these goals this training program has developed novel training mechanisms facilitating clinical interactions, multi-disciplinary teamwork and professional development.
Director: Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney, Co-director: Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki
2025-2026 Trainees:
Benjamin Gilbert (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg)
Manie Brema (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Abbey Hershner (mentor Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki)
Dominic Kolonay (mentor Dr. Kedryn Baskin)
Isabella Kolodny (mentor Dr. Sarah Heissler)
Kate Marris (mentor Dr. Martha Belury)
Hannah Sanders (mentor Dr. Kedryn Baskin)
Jenna Thuma (mentor Dr. Jonathan Davis)
Previous Trainees:
2024-2025 Trainees 2023-2024 Trainees
Mona Aljuhani (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg) Ashley Greenlee (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith)
Benjamin Gilbert (Dr. Vidu Garg) Jenna Thuma (mentor Dr. Jonathan Davis)
Dominic Kolonay (mentor Dr. Kedryn Baskin) Mona Aljuhani (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg)
Kate Marris (mentor Dr. Martha Belury) Arden Piepho (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Arden Piepho (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Shane Scott (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith)
Hannah Sanders (Dr. Kedryn Baskin) Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo)
Jenna Thuma (mentor Dr. Jonathan Davis) Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Felix Yang (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford) Felix Yang (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
2022-2023 Trainees 2021-2022 Trainees
Arden Piepho (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Randa Breikaa (mentor Dr. Brenda Lilly)
Charles Rabolli (mentor Dr. Federica Accornero) Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
Rebecca Shaheen (mentor Dr. Tom Hund) Miguel Lopez (mentor Dr. Noah Weisleder)
Lorien Salyer (mentor Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki) Somayya Mohammad (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith)
Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo) Lorien Salyer (mentor Dr. Brandon Biesiadecki)
Chetan Gomatam (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney) Sarah Sturgill (mentor Dr. Mark Ziolo)
Felix Yang (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford)
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)
Somayya Mohammad (mentor Dr. Sakima Smith) Adrianna Matos-Nieves (mentor Dr. Vidu Garg)
Kelsey Pinckard (mentor Dr. Kristin Stanford) Zachary Howard (mentor Dr. Jill Rafael-Fortney)
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)
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 Thomas Hund, PhD
Brandon Biesiadecki, PhD Brenda Lilly, PhD
Cynthia Carnes, PharmD Jill Rafael-Fortney, PhD
Jonathan Davis, PhD Sakima Smith, MD
Isabelle Deschenes, PhD Kristin Stanford, PhD
Vadim Fedorov, PhD Noah Weisleder, PhD
Vidu Garg, MD Loren Wold, PhD
Sandor Gyorke, PhD Mark Ziolo, PhD
Willa Hsueh, MD
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); 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 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; 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.