Our Mission
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
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National Postdoc Appreciation Week Programming
Looking ahead to National Postdoc Appreciation Week, we encourage our postdocs to check out the University’s programming, described below.
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Five SRIP Fellows Join the CVRC for Summer Research
As part of this year’s Summer Research internship Program (SRIP), five undergraduate students have joined CVRC labs to build research skills and gain lab experience. Participants live at UVA for ten weeks, are partnered with a student mentor, and complete … Read More
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Ariel Polizio, PhD, Named NIH Butler-Williams Scholar
Ariel Polizio, PhD, was chosen as one of a select group of participants in this year’s Butler-Williams Scholars Program. The program, run by the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Aging (NIH-NIA), is a four-day intensive designed to help … Read More
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Center Researchers Share Career Insights With Local High Schoolers
CVTG appointee Hogan McKee, MBChB, recently presented to the Monticello High School Science National Honor Society, along with Antonio Abbate, MD, PhD. The Science National Honor Society hosts symposia given by outside speakers to expose high school students to career … Read More
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CVRC Director Gary Owens, PhD, Presents 2026 Berne Lecture
CVRC Director Gary Owens, PhD, presented this year’s Robert M. Berne Lecture on May 21. The lecture, in memory of the CVRC’s founder, Robert M. Berne, MD, is a prestigious lecture. Since the first presentation in 1990, the presentation has … Read More
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Dr. Fenix Araujo from Sonkusare Lab Earns First-place Award at American Physiological Society Postdoctoral Trainee Competition
Congratulations to Dr. Fenix Araujo, postdoctoral fellow in the Sonkusare lab, on her first-place award at the American Physiological Society Cardiovascular Section Outstanding Postdoctoral Trainee Competition. Fenix presented her work on the non-genomic effects of mineralocorticoid receptors.
Maya Bolger-Chen & Ruei-Jen Abraham-Fan, PhD
Cavitation-facilitated AAV Gene Therapy for Cardiovascular and Muscular Disorders (Maya) Druggable Pathways Involving Platelet Signaling for Slowing Aortic Stenosis Progression (Ruie-Jen) In the first half of the series, we will review progress to date on augmenting AAV gene therapy by … Read More
Monica Santisteban, PhD
Contributions of hypertension to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease Cardiovascular risk factors are now recognized as important contributors not only to vascular dementia but also to Alzheimer’s disease. Indeed, there is a strong association between mid-life hypertension and late-life dementia. … Read More
Elisa Boscolo, PhD
Cellular and molecular mechanisms driving aberrant development in a novel model of Venous Malformation Patients with venous malformation (VM) develop vascular lesions consisting of massively enlarged and dysmorphic veins. These lesions cause significant disfigurement, chronic pain, and complications such as bleeding and … Read More
Maddie Jackson, PhD Candidate
TBD PhD Candidate, Hirschi Lab, University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA