Areas of Research

“My research focuses on protecting patients from renal injury after percutaneous coronary intervention,” says faculty member David M. Zlotnick, right, with fellow Christopher Manion.

Investigations in our division span the spectrum of bench-to-bedside research.

Our divisional faculty explore:

  • integrative approaches to identify intrinsic adaptive responses of the heart to ischemia or angina
  • how adult stem cell therapies improve myocardial function
  • how chronic ischemia and cellular remodeling predispose one to sudden cardiac arrest from ventricular fibrillation
  • antithrombotic therapy
  • interventions to treat heart valve disorders
  • heart failure therapeutics
  • cardiac risk stratification

Our preclinical research uses cellular approaches and models of ischemic heart disease to elucidate molecular mechanisms and produce the proof-of-concept studies needed to advance novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

The infrastructure supported by our medical school’s $15 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health helps our divisional faculty translate our work to patient-oriented research. We both initiate clinical research and lead, or participate in, multicenter national trials.

We collaborate with many investigators outside our division, including those in our medical school, across UB and at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Sunil Baldwa, MD

  • Cardiovascular risk and post-traumatic stress disorder

Michael Cain, MD, FAHA, FACC, FHRS

  • Risk stratification for sudden cardiac death

John Canty, Jr., MD

  • Cardiovascular stem cell therapy
  • Chronic adaptations to myocardial ischemia
  • Heart Failure with a Preserved Ejection Fraction
  • Sudden cardiac death

Thomas Cimato, MD, PhD

  • Atherosclerosis and vascular biology
  • Cardiovascular Stem Cell Biology
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Hematopoietic stem cells
  • Systolic and Diastolic Heart Failure

Anne Curtis, MD

  • Cardiac resynchronization therapy
  • Implantable cardioverter defibrillators
  • Pacemakers
  • Sudden cardiac death
  • Ventricular tachycardia

James Fallavollita, MD

  • Chronic adaptations to myocardial ischemia
  • Sudden cardiac death

Stanley Fernandez, MD, PhD

  • Lipid management
  • Sudden cardiac death

Susan Graham, MD

  • Heart failure

Vijay Iyer, MD, PhD

  • Cardiovascular stem cell therapy
  • Percutaneous aortic/mitral valve replacement

Jennifer Lang, MD

  • Cardiovascular stem cell therapy

Brian Page, MD

  • Chronic adaptations to myocardial ischemia

Umesh Sharma, M.D., Ph.D.

  • Biomarkers
  • Cardiac fibrosis and remodeling
  • Cardiac MRI and CT
  • Cardio-Oncology
  • Galectin-3 as a Risk-Predictor of Sudden Cardiac Arrest
  • Post-Infarct Myocardial Remodeling
  • Prevention of Radiation-Induced Cardiomyopathy

David Zlotnick, MD

  • Renal injury after percutaneous intervention