2018 News, Events, and Milestones
2018 Leeper Lab Holiday Celebration
Dr. Leeper's Lab celebrates another year of accomplishments!
NHLBI R01 Grant to Study Women's Heart Health
Congratulations to Drs. Hlatky and Winn for their newly funded NHLBI R01 which will investigate the link between preeclampsia and future risk of atherosclerotic disease. The Leeper lab looks forward to helping conduct the EPOCH (Effect of Preeclampsia on Cardiovascular Health) study to gain new insights into this important aspect of women’s heart health.
Read the full article about this exciting study here: Full Article
Dr. Mark Hlatky
Dr. Virginia Winn
Headline News: Publication in AHA Journal on Varicose Veins gets National attention
In the largest genetics study ever performed on varicose veins, Dr. Fukaya and colleagues pursue the inherited and environmental drivers of disease and identify a novel link between varicose veins and human height.
American Heart Association Publication
The Stanford research team including Vascular Medicine physicians Dr. Leeper and Dr. Fukaya have discovered a new risk factor for heart failure: leg bioimpedance. Their work is published in the Jorunal for American Heart Association June 2018, read more about this important advancement in the American Heart Association Article link below.
2018 Fondation Leducq award
Congratulations to the Leeper lab for receiving a 2018 Fondation Leducq award. This grant, led by Drs. Gary Owens and Gerard Pasterkamp, will use advanced genomics approaches to investigate the contribution of matrix producing cells to atherosclerotic vascular disease. Additional details about this exciting new collaboration can be found at http://plaqomics.com/.
June 15, 2018- Jay D. Coffman Young Investigator Award
Dr. Fukaya receives 2nd Place
Congratulations to Dr. Eri Fukaya on receiving second place for the Jay D. Coffman Young Investigator Award at the Society for Vascular Medicine 29th Annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago. This award is for Dr. Fukaya's project: Clinical and Genetic Determinants of Varicose Veins: A Prospective, Community-Based Prospective Study of ~500,000 Individuals. We congratulate Dr. Fukaya on this accomplishment and look forward to future successes.
2018 AHA Transformational Project Award
Dr. Nicholas Leeper was awarded an AHA Transformational Project Award. Dr. Leeper will be working with Dr. Bryan Smith, Molecular Imaging to study “Macrophage-specific nanoparticles which we hope will home to the diseased blood vessel and promote the clearance of necrotic debris as a new method to treat atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease”.
2018 Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research
Congratulations to Sophia Xiao, Leeper Lab Member, on receiving the 2018 Firestone Medal for her graduating thesis. The Firestone medal is prestigious honor awarded to the finest honors thesis in social science, science, and engineering.
American Heart Association 2018 Postdoctoral Fellowship
Congratulations to Dr. Ying Wang on receiving the American Heart Association's (AHA) Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowship will support Wang for one year while she continues her research on the role of CD47 in the accumulation of diseased smooth muscle cells in atherosclerosis in the Leeper Lab.
Alyssa Flores awarded the Robert W. Hobson, II, MD Early Career Investigator Award
Congratulations to Alyssa Flores on being awarded the Robert W. Hobson, II, MD Early Career Investigator Award. The award is issued by the American Heart Association’s Council on Peripheral Vascular disease and recognizes excellence in basic or clinical science in early career investigators in vascular and endovascular medicine, vascular surgery, or vascular biology. She will be given the award at the 2018 ATVB|PVD Scientific Sessions.
Alyssa Flores awarded renewal of HHMI Fellowship grant
Alyssa Flores awarded renewal of HHMI Fellowship grant. She will continue work studying cardiovascular genetics and nanotherapies for atherosclerosis. Congratulations to Alyssa for securing this competitive funding!
Dr. Leeper Participates in 1st Stanford Health Care Facebook Live Event
Dr. Nicholas Leeper, associate professor in the Division of Vascular Surgery, joined Stanford Cardiologists Drs. Abha Khandelwal and Marco Perez to discuss the latest trends in preventing heart disease, options for treatment and more in a Facebook Live Event on February 22, 2018.
Dr. Fukaya is a finalist in the Jay D. Coffman Young Investigator Award (YIA)
Congratulations to Dr. Eri Fukaya, clinical assistant professor in the Division of Vascular Surgery, for being selected as a finalist in the prestigious Jay D. Coffman Young Investigator Award (YIA) Competition for her abstract, Clinical and Genetic Determinants of Varicose Veins: A Prospective, Community-Based Prospective Study of ~500,000 Individuals. We are very excited for Dr. Fukaya and wish her continued success.
February 2018- “New Circulation study suggests that ‘taking out the trash’ may help prevent aneurysm disease” or similar?
Impaired cell cleanup associated with abdominal aortic aneurysms, new study finds.
According to a new Stanford study, the body’s ability to get rid of dead cells plays a role in the development of abdominal aortic aneurysms. The research could pave the way to preventing aneurysms from enlarging. Nicholas Leeper, Associate Professor of Surgery, is the senior author. The study builds on research by co-author Irving Weissman, the Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Professor in Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research, professor of pathology and of developmental biology and director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Vivek Nanda awarded K99 Grant from the NIH
Congratulations to Leeper lab member Vivek Nanda,Ph.D. for being awarded a K99 by the National Institute of Health (NIH).