Dr. Yiannikouris Dedicates Career to Treating and Preventing Cardiovascular Disease, Obesity

Frédérique Yiannikouris, PhD, is an assistant professor of pharmacology and nutritional sciences and serves as a member of the nutritional sciences curriculum committee in the department. She has co-organized the University of Kentucky’s Healthy Hearts for Women (HHW) Symposium since its beginning in 2015. She is also actively involved in Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) as a co-chair in memberships and nomination subcommittee, member of the executive committee, and participant in the mentoring program.

Q: What are your current research interests?

A: I am driving my research toward cardiovascular disease and obesity. My research program focuses on the functional role of the prorenin receptor, a component of the renin angiotensin system, in the liver, the kidney, and adipose tissue under physiologic and pathologic conditions with a particular interest in obesity and blood pressure control. My overarching career interest is to find new strategies to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease and obesity in women and men with a special emphasis on sex difference.

Q: What are some recent career accomplishments that you are proud of?

A: I am proud of every step of my career that help me to move forward: being an assistant professor, being the principal investigator of National Institutes of Health (NIH) and American Heart Association (AHA) grants, publishing peer-review manuscripts, mentoring and training students, and teaching. I am proud of being the co-organizer of the HHW symposium since 2005. Finding new ideas and themes can be challenging, and we were able to maintain and increase its interests.

The success of my students is also my success. I am very proud of a former postdoctoral student because of her training in my laboratory and because she published peer-review manuscripts in high impact journals during this time. She is now ‘’charge de recherche’’ at the University of Louvain in Belgium and the recipient of funding for three years.

Q: Why did you want to go into research?

A: The ravenous thirst for understanding the biological mechanism of life to better prevent and treat diseases and live longer the precious life we have on earth.

Q: What advice would you give to women in medicine and science who are early in their careers?

A: I believe that motivation, hard work, open mind, dedication, integrity, and perseverance are key words to succeed. This career path is not easy, but it is possible to have a family life while working in medicine or science. The identification of role models and mentors can help design a personal work-life balance.

Q: What is an interesting fact about yourself?

A: I was told that I am an out-of-the-box scientist… I found my scientific creativity in Mediterranean cooking, ‘’haute couture,’’ and art!