Our Mission

The Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center was established to expand basic, translational, and clinical research of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases, including congestive heart failure, hypertension, atherosclerosis, stroke, aneurysms, and vascular auto-immune diseases are the most common cause of death and disability in the United States, and account for approximately 30% of deaths and health care costs annually in this country and developed societies.

The mission of the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center is to support interdisciplinary research in basic, translational and clinical cardiovascular sciences, including cardiovascular development, function, pathophysiology, pharmacology, genetics, genomics, and proteomics, and to apply this knowledge to better understand the causes of cardiovascular diseases and to pioneer development of new innovative therapies and approaches to prevent or treat them.

Goals and Objectives

  • To support basic, translational, and clinical research that can be translated into therapies and improve patient care
  • To provide resources that enhance research in cardiovascular related diseases
  • To disseminate knowledge by lectures, seminars and other educational opportunities
  • To support training of pre- and postgraduate students, residents and fellows in the cardiovascular sciences and cardiovascular medicine
  • To help integrate cardiovascular research across labs, departments, and schools at UVA as well as with outside institutions including facilitating collaborative studies
  • To assist CVRC investigators in developing a plan for translating research findings into products or procedures that benefit patients including providing advice on protecting intellectual property, establishing biotech startup companies, and licensing technology to companies

Austin Hogwood, PhD, from the Abbate Research Team Selected for the Prestigious National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program
Austin Hogwood, PhD, from the Abbate Research Team Selected for the Prestigious National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program

Two alumni from the UVA School of Education and Human Development’s kinesiology programs, Colby Mangum and Austin Hogwood, were recently selected for the prestigious National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program. “This is a competitive program that awards productive scientists … Read More

Dr. Antonio Abbate, Dr. Jeff Saucerman, and Dr. Stefano Toldo Awarded $3.1 Million to Study How Treatments Targeting Lipoprotein Receptors Improve Outcomes in Heart Attacks and Heart Failure
Dr. Antonio Abbate, Dr. Jeff Saucerman, and Dr. Stefano Toldo Awarded $3.1 Million to Study How Treatments Targeting Lipoprotein Receptors Improve Outcomes in Heart Attacks and Heart Failure

Backed by a new four-year $3.1 million National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant, School of Medicine researchers Antonio Abbate, MD, PhD, Jeff Saucerman, PhD, and Stefano Toldo, PhD, have initiated a new study to examine cell-specific low-density lipoprotein receptor … Read More

Dr. Jeff Saucerman and his team have New Insights About How Heart Cells Regenerate that May Lead to New Drugs to Fix Damaged Hearts
Dr. Jeff Saucerman and his team have New Insights About How Heart Cells Regenerate that May Lead to New Drugs to Fix Damaged Hearts

New research from UVA Health scientists seeking to identify drugs to regenerate tissue after a heart attack is highlighting the promise of their approach. The team, led by Jeff Saucerman, PhD, previously developed a method to identify drugs that might … Read More


Berne Lecture – Luisa Iruela-Arispe, PhD

Understanding Vascular Growth Kinetics At the structural level, the vascular system is a network of interconnected tubes responsible for delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. While accurate, this portrayal understates the complexities inherent to its functionality. Beyond mere transportation, … Read More

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Pinn Hall Conference Center Auditorium,

Antonio Abbate, MD, PhD; Stefano Toldo, PhD; Jeff Saucerman, PhD

Cell-specific LRP1 signaling in acute myocardial infarction Improving the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) to prevent heart failure (HF) and death remains an urgent unmet medical need. The AHA estimates that every 42 seconds an American will have an … Read More

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MR5 Room 3005,

Rebecca Deaton, PhD & Sohel Shamsuzzaman, PhD

RMB CVRC & School of Medicine MPBP Seminar Role of extracellular myeloperoxidase in atherosclerosis development and late-stage pathogenesis Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease whose clinical complications, including major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) such as myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke, … Read More

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MR5 Room 3005,