Featured Speaker Highlights: 2018 Cardiovascular Research Day
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Featured Speakers
Mary McDermott, M.D.
Jeremiah Stamler Professor, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Mary M. McDermott MD is the Jeremiah Stamler Professor of Medicine and Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. McDermott is a general internist and a clinician investigator whose research focuses on lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD). Dr. McDermott’s research, funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), has objectively defined the magnitude and significance of functional impairment, functional decline, and mobility loss in people with PAD including among PAD patients without exertional leg pain. She was the first investigator to demonstrate that home-based exercise programs improve walking performance in people with PAD and have a durable effect on walking performance. More recently, Dr. McDermott’s NHLBI-funded research program consists of randomized clinical trials designed to identify medical therapies and novel exercise interventions to improve lower extremity functional performance and prevent functional decline in people with PAD. Dr. McDermott is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians. She is an American Heart Association Distinguished Scientist. She is a Senior Editor for JAMA.
Dianne Milewicz, M.D., Ph.D.
President George H.W. Bush Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Dianna M. Milewicz, MD PhD, is the President George H.W. Bush Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine, Director of the Division of Medical Genetics and Vice-Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). She completed her postgraduate training in internal medicine, specialized further in cardiology and medical genetics, and forged a career in translational studies focused on genetic predisposition to vascular diseases. She has been inducted into the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. She has received numerous honors and awards for her research, including the Antoine Marfan Award, the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award, the Belgium Princess Lilian Award, and the University of Texas Presidential Scholars Award for Excellence in Research. She has sought to rapidly and efficiently translate her research findings into improved clinical care and her patient advocacy is evident by her appointment as Chair of several Boards, including that of the Marfan Foundation, John Ritter Foundation, Genetic Aortic Disease Association of Canada, Thoracic Aortic Disease Coalition and Texas American Heart Association. Dr. Milewicz is also committed to mentoring the next generation of physician scientists. She has been the Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program Program offered jointly by the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and UT MD Anderson Cancer Center for over 15 years and has mentored numerous junior faculty initiating their research careers.
Jerome Rotter, M.D.
Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Medicine and Human Genetics, Director, Division of Genomic Outcomes, Translational Genomics and Population Science, University of California, Los Angeles
Jerome I. Rotter, MD, FACP, FACMG is Director of Research and Co-Director of the Medical Genetics Institute, Director of the Division of Medical Genetics (Department of Medicine) and Director of the Common Diseases Genetics Program at Cedars-Sinai. He holds the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Chair in Medical Genetics. Dr. Rotter is also Principal Investigator of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) Family Study and Associate Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH) projects and center grants on inflammatory bowel diseases, coronary artery diseases and treatment of lipid disorders. Dr. Rotter received his bachelor's and medical degrees from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He completed his internship in medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, followed by a residency in internal medicine at Wadsworth VA Hospital in Los Angeles and a fellowship in medical genetics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
