Leadership

The Training Program in Cardiac & Vascular Cell Biology is administered by a training program steering committee consisting of the program director, the co-directors, and eight faculty members. The Steering Committee members have extensive experience in graduate and post-graduate training, as Training Grant Program Directors or Co-directors, or as Directors of a Graduate Program in Life Sciences program or track. The Steering Committee is responsible for establishing the program’s educational policies and curriculum, for determining overall program policies and directions, for selecting the trainees, reviewing the trainees' progress, and reviewing the career development of former trainees.

The composition of the training program's steering committee includes:

1. faculty representatives of the three unique and integrated scientific features of the Program (e.g. biophotonics & imaging, molecular biology and functional genomics),
2. the directors of distinct but related training programs in Integrative Membrane Biology and Muscle Biology, and
3. faculty representing women and underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

Our External Advisory Committee consists of an eminent group of internationally recognized individuals, each of whom has extensive experience in graduate and postgraduate training. Dr. L. Gabriel Navar is Chair of the AHA High Blood Pressure Council and a former NHLBI T32 Program Director. Dr. David Kass at Johns Hopkins University is Program Director of a long-running T32, and has a rich history of mentoring both clinical and basic science trainees. Dr. Andrew Marks, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Department of Physiology at Columbia University School of Medicine is also a Program Director of a T32 training program; and Dr. John Solaro is Head of the Department of Physiology at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Program Director

Steven A. Fisher, M.D.

• Professor, Department of Medicine

Program Co-Directors

Mordecai P. Blaustein, M.D.

• Professor, Departments of Physiology and Medicine
• Director, Maryland Center for Heart, Hypertension & Kidney Disease

William C. Stanley, Ph.D.

• Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology

Steering Committee

Robert J. Bloch, Ph.D.

• Professor, Department of Physiology
• Director, Training Program in Membrane Biology

Bartley Griffith, M.D.

• Professor of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine
• Chief, Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC)
• Director, Heart and Lung Transplantation, UMMC

Thomas L. Pallone, M.D.

• Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, and Department of Physiology

Martin F. Schneider, Ph.D.

• Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Director, Interdisciplinary Program in Muscle Biology

Terez Shea-Donahue, Ph.D.

• Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology & Department of Physiology
• Track Leader, Molecular and Cellular Physiology (Molecular Medicine)

Alan Shuldiner, M.D.

• Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology
• Head, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Nutrition
• Director, Program in Genetics and Genomic Medicine
• Director, University of Maryland K12 Multidisciplinary Research Career Development Program

Dudley K. Strickland, Ph.D.

• Professor, Department of Surgery, Divison of Cardiac Surgery and Department of Physiology
• Director, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases
• Director, Program in Molecular Medicine, Graduate Program in Life Sciences

Paul Welling, M.D.

• Professor, Department of Physiology
• Past Track Leader, Molecular and Cellular Physiology (Molecular Medicine)