Research Council

Participating Faculty

Our participating faculty represent a broad range of departments and research areas across the University of Utah. Faculty members serve as research preceptors and mentors, providing trainees with opportunities to engage in cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, metabolic, imaging, and related biomedical research.

Markus Amann, PhD, MS — Professor, Anesthesiology. Research interests: Circulatory and respiratory responses in COPD and heart failure. Training Role: Preceptor.

Ademuyiwa S. Aromolaran, PhD — Associate Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery. Training Role: Preceptor.

Anna E. Beaudin, PhD — Associate Professor, Hematology. Research interests: Hematopoietic stem cells; tissue-resident macrophages. Training Role: Preceptor.

Erik A. Blackwood, PhD — Assistant Professor, Nutrition & Integrative Physiology. Training Role: Preceptor.

Joshua L. Bonkowsky, MD, PhD — Professor, Pediatric Neurology. Research interests: Complications of the heart, lung, and blood arising from neural deficiencies. Training Role: Preceptor.

Sihem Boudina, PhD — Professor, Nutrition & Integrative Physiology. Research interests: Obesity, diabetes and cardiac metabolism. Training Role: Preceptor.

K.C. Brennan, MD — Professor, Neurology. Research interests: Headache physiology. Training Role: Preceptor.

Adam Bress, PharmD, MS — Associate Professor, Population Health Sciences. Research interests: Cardiovascular disease epidemiology. Training Role: Preceptor.

Benjamin S. Brooke, MD, PhD, FAS, DFSVS — Professor, Vascular Surgery. Research interests: Vascular surgery; improved care coordination. Training Role: Preceptor.

Dipayan Chaudhuri, MD, PhD — Associate Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine. Research interests: Cardiac metabolism in heart failure. Training Role: Preceptor.

Christopher M. Depner, PhD — Assistant Professor, Health & Kinesiology. Research interests: Sleep and circadian physiology. Training Role: Preceptor.

Edward V. DiBella, PhD — Professor, Radiology & Imaging Sciences. Research interests: Cardiovascular MRI. Training Role: Preceptor.

Anthony J. Donato, PhD, MS — Professor, Geriatrics. Research interests: Oxidative stress in vascular aging and risks for cardiovascular disease. Training Role: Preceptor.

Adrienne Dorrance, PhD — Associate Professor, Oncology. Research interests: Therapy development for acute leukemia. Training Role: Preceptor.

Derek J. Dosdall, PhD — Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery. Research interests: Quantitative approaches to the study of cardiac arrhythmias. Training Role: Preceptor.

Stavros G. Drakos, MD, PhD, FACC — Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine. Research interests: Advanced heart failure especially as it relates to left ventricular assist devices. Training Role: Preceptor.

Gregory S. Ducker, PhD — Assistant Professor, Biochemistry. Training Role: Preceptor.

Katsuhiko Funai, MS, PhD — Associate Professor, Nutrition & Integrative Physiology. Training Role: Preceptor.

Martin Golkowski, PhD — Assistant Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology. Training Role: Preceptor.

My N. Helms, PhD — Associate Professor, Pulmonary Medicine. Research interests: The role of sodium channels (ENaC) in health and disease. Training Role: Preceptor.

William L. Holland, PhD — Associate Professor, Nutrition & Integrative Physiology. Research interests: Insulin resistance and mechanisms of metabolic disease. Training Role: Preceptor.

TingTing Hong, MD, PhD — Associate Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology. Training Role: Preceptor/MPI.

Lisa A. Lesniewski, PhD, MA — Professor, Geriatrics. Research interests: Aging, obesity, adipose, artery, atherosclerosis, inflammation, metabolism. Training Role: Preceptor.

Joseph Palatinus, MD, PhD — Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine. Training Role: Preceptor.

Albert H. Park, MD — Professor, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. Research interests: Cytomegalovirus and congenital hearing loss. Training Role: Preceptor.

Dennis L. Parker, PhD — Professor, Radiology & Imaging Sciences. Research interests: Vascular imaging. Training Role: Preceptor.

Aaron C. Petrey, PhD — Assistant Professor, Pathology – Microbiology and Immunology. Research interests: Inflammation, thrombosis, inflammatory bowel disease. Training Role: Preceptor.

Ravi Ranjan, MD, PhD — Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine. Research interests: Heart failure and recovery. Training Role: Preceptor.

Christopher A. Reilly, PhD — Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology. Training Role: Preceptor.

Matthew T. Rondina, MD, MS — Professor, Hematology. Research interests: Thrombotic events in obesity and diabetes; platelets, thrombosis, inflammation, aging. Training Role: Preceptor.

Jesse W. Rowley, PhD — Associate Professor, Pulmonary Medicine. Research interests: Platelet function, diagnosis and therapeutics. Training Role: Preceptor.

Jared P. Rutter, PhD — Distinguished Professor, Biochemistry. Research interests: Metabolic regulation. Training Role: Preceptor.

Robin M. Shaw, MD, PhD — Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine. Research interests: Myocardial biology. Training Role: Preceptor.

Yan-Ting Shiu, PhD — Professor, Nephrology. Research interests: Hemodialysis vascular access; vascular dysfunctions and pathomechanics in patients with CKD, CVD and PVD; and mechanobiology. Training Role:Preceptor.

Josef Stehlik, MD, PhD — Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine. Research interests: Heart failure and heart/lung transplants. Training Role: Preceptor.

Scott Summers, PhD — Distinguished Professor, Nutrition & Integrative Physiology. Research interests: Lipotoxic mechanisms underlying cardiometabolic disease. Training Role: Preceptor.

John David Symons, PhD — Professor, Nutrition & Integrative Physiology. Research interests: Aging and vascular health impacts. Training Role: Preceptor.

Jason Tanner, MD/PhD — Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine. Research interests: Aging and vascular health impacts. Training Role: Preceptor.

Joel D. Trinity, PhD — Associate Professor, Geriatrics. Research interests: Interactions of oxidative stress, vascular function, and mitochondrial function in aging and disease. Training Role: Preceptor.

Martin Tristani-Firouzi, MD — Professor, Pediatric Cardiology. Research interests: Precision cardiovascular medicine, arrhythmia. Training Role: Preceptor/MPI.

D. Walter Wray, PhD, MSc — Professor, Geriatrics. Research interests: Regulation of skeletal muscle blood flow during exercise, with an emphasis on age-related diseases such as heart failure. Training Role: Preceptor.

Mark Yandell, PhD — Professor, Human Genetics. Research interests: Genome annotation, sequence variation and human disease, high-throughput biological image analysis. Training Role: Preceptor.

Tianxin Yang, MD, PhD — Professor, Nephrology. Research interests: Lipid mediators in the regulation of blood pressure. Training Role: Preceptor.

Christian C. Yost, MD — Professor, Pediatrics. Research interests: Neonatology; neutrophil extracellular traps in immunity and disease. Training Role: Preceptor.

Weiquan Zhu, PhD — Associate Professor, Ophthalmology/Visual Sciences. Research interests: Vascular stability and disease. Training Role: Preceptor.