My research experience lies at the intersection of cardiovascular inflammation and computational tools for biomedical science.

Moving forward, I am interested in investigating the overlap of cardiovascular disease and immunology. My ultimate goal is to be able to lead a team capable of both (a) identifying in silico and (b) verifying in vitro and in vivo novel pathophysiologies and therapeutic targets in cardiovascular inflammation. I am currently working on clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), and I am excited and hopeful that CHIP will provide a new avenue to understand how inflammation at large interacts with cardiovascular disease across the population.

I am currently seeking opportunities to leverage high-dimensional basic and translational datasets to define the role of immunobiology in vascular disease or advance treatment strategies in this area. Of note, I am particularly interested in projects prioritizing cardiovascular health in underserved populations and/or sex differences in cardiovascular disease - cardiovascular inflammation and health disparities are deeply intertwined. 

My PhD thesis work used genetic mouse models, bone marrow transplants, and in vitro models to understand the role of immune cells in calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD). I described that a common genetic mutation associated with CAVD leads to increased recruitment of pro-inflammatory monocytes and macrophages, and that these cells then promote a pro-calcific transcriptional program in aortic valve cells.  I continue to be interested in how circulating cell types impact calcification of the aortic valve and lead to aortic valve stenosis. 

I have also used the programming language R to incorporate large-scale analyses of echocardiographic data to complement basic science understanding of aortic valve disease. I have previously used electronic medical record data to identify a connection between celecoxib and aortic valve disease, and I separately performed an unbiased analysis of echocardiographic data on aortic valve disease in a major medical center to identify inequities and diagnostic patterns. I am currently performing analyses of high-dimensional clinical and genomic data to explore the relationship between clonal hematopoiesis and aortic valve disease, with preliminary results presented at AHA Scientific Sessions 2021.

Finally, I am currently using R, Python, and PLINK to perform whole-genome approaches in clonal hematopoiesis in an effort to understand how somatic mutations in hematopoietic cells impact cardiovascular outcomes. We hope to understand how the underlying genetic architecture can impact clonal hematopoiesis as described in the recent publication by Bick, et al.