Medical College of Wisconsin Cardiovascular Research Center

The Cardiovascular Research Center has appointed Erika Johansen, PhD, as a postdoctoral trainee to the Cardiovascular Research Center’s National Institutes of Health T32 postdoctoral training program.

Dr. Johansen earned her Bachelor of Science in biology and biomedical science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2021. She then completed her PhD in microbiology & immunology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in March of 2026 under the mentorship of Vera Tarakanova, PhD, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology.

Dr. Johansen has now joined the laboratory of John Corbett, PhD, professor of biochemistry. Dr. Corbett is also a member of the Cardiovascular Research Center’s Signature Program in Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, & Vascular Biology.

Her project, "Mechanisms of Protective Cytokine Signaling in Pancreatic β Cells During Viral Infection and Type 1 Diabetes," challenges the long-standing belief that inflammatory cytokines primarily damage pancreatic beta cells during viral infection and contribute to the development of type 1 diabetes. Instead, her research investigates whether these immune signaling molecules serve a protective role by acting as an early warning system that helps beta cells defend themselves against viral injury.

Dr. Johansen will use a clinically relevant viral infection model to investigate how cytokine signaling and antiviral pathways protect pancreatic beta cells during infection, while also exploring whether similar protective mechanisms exist in other organs, including the heart. By uncovering how the innate immune and endocrine systems work together to preserve tissue function during infection, her research could reshape our understanding of the early events that lead to type 1 diabetes and identify new therapeutic strategies to prevent beta cell destruction and reduce the cardiovascular complications associated with the disease.

Building on excellence in cardiovascular research, the Cardiovascular Research Center’s T32 postdoctoral training program, “Training in Signature Transdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences,” is funded by a $2.7 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute that provides support for six postdoctoral training slots each year. The grant provides up to three years of training for appointed postdoctoral fellows in the Cardiovascular Research Center with an MD, PhD, PharmD, or DO degree. Complementary support for trainees is provided by a donation given to the Cardiovascular Research Center by the A. O. Smith Foundation for the A. O. Smith Fellowship Scholars Program, a program designed to support talented cardiovascular researchers and physicians to overcome the barriers that exist in launching and sustaining a successful research career.

The ultimate goal of this training program is to train the next generation of cardiovascular scientists and physicians, by incorporating broad-based, personalized, supportive, and rigorous training opportunities.

Dr. Johansen joins six other distinguished A.O. Smith Scholars in the Cardiovascular Research Center’s T32 postdoctoral training program: Adam Knier, PhD, Alexis Smith, PhD, Taylor Holmes, DPT, PhD, Justin Womack, PhD, MS, Md Mostafijur Rahman, PhD, MS, and Hannah Cizauskas, PhD. The program is currently accepting applications from highly qualified candidates. Since its inception in 2017, alumni of the program have been highly successful in publishing in high-impact journals, obtaining K and F awards, and securing faculty positions, building toward independence as cardiovascular investigators and physicians.

The program is co-directed by Mary Sorci-Thomas, PhD, professor of medicine and associate director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, Jacquelyn Kulinski, MD, professor of medicine, and Justin Grobe, PhD, of physiology and biomedical engineering, Butenhoff Family Professor of Cardiovascular Research at MCW.

The CVRC is happy to welcome our newest member, Noelle Garster, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, as well as Co-Director of the Echocardiography Core. Dr. Garster's primary interests are outcomes research related to cardiovascular imaging and valvular heart disease, including Cardiac MRI and Echo.

We are happy to introduce our newest CVRC Member, Mina Iskander, MD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology.

Join us in welcoming our newest member to the CVRC, Aasim Padela, MD, MSc, Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Padela's research spans the broad intersections of community health, religion and bioethics with a specific focus on using the lens of Muslim experiences in healthcare to address health inequities using discursive, educational and policy interventions. Against this backdrop, his community-engaged research work addressing religion-related barriers to healthy behaviors is most related to cardiovascular disease as they deploy religiously-tailored and ethically-balanced interventions to support preventive health actions.

Please help us in welcoming our newest CVRC Member, Paul Auer, PhD, Professor in the Division of Biostatistics at the Data Science Institute at MCW. Dr. Auer is a Statistical Geneticist with a primary interest in the analysis of large-scale datasets to elucidate the genetic architecture of complex human traits. His labs focus has been geared toward hematologic traits and CV diseases such as stroke and coronary artery disease (CAD), as well as cancer. Recently, the lab has focused on identifying both lymphoid and myeloid clonal hematopoiesis (CH) from whole-genome sequencing data from apparently healthy individuals and the effects of CH on CVD and cancer risk.

This summer has been filled with discovery, teamwork, and fun for our CVRC ASPIRE and SURE undergraduate researchers! From hands-on experiences at the bench to volunteering at Hunger Task Force, competing in the Game Show Battle Room, enjoying our annual Ice Cream Social, and cheering on the Milwaukee Brewers, it's been a summer to remember. We're proud of all they've accomplished—both in and out of the lab!

William Hughes, PhD, is the recipient of the 2026 Sally Bentley Early-Stage Investigator (ESI) Award. This research will determine whether the exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise seen with advancing age is the body compensating for reduced blood flow, and whether that response is driven by endothelial dysfunction, or a decline in blood vessels' ability to widen properly when muscles accumulate metabolites.

Dr. Hughes is an assistant professor of anesthesiology and a member of the Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). This one-year, $20,000 award will fund his project, “Impact of Aging and Endothelial Function on Skeletal Muscle Metaboreflex Responses and Exercise Vasodilation,” paving the way for new treatments to address the effects of aging on cardiovascular function and disease.

Funding for this award is made possible by the Sally Bentley Endowed Cardiovascular Venture Fund for New Researchers. The fund was established in 2011 with a gift to the CVRC from Ms. Bentley and We Energies.

Khyati Girdhar, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics (endocrinology) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and member of the Cardiovascular Research Center, has received the 2026 Michael H. Keelan, Jr., MD Scholar Award for her project, “Plasma factor-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction associates with cardiovascular burden in type 1 diabetes.”

Children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes are 30-fold more likely to develop cardiovascular disease compared to a healthy population. Interestingly, adults who develop Type 1 diabetes experience a significantly lower incidence of these cardiovascular complications.

To understand this difference, this study will leverage biospecimens and clinical data from the Max McGee Diabetes Research Center Family Study, a 25-year effort that has enrolled over 1,000 cases and controls. The project will directly compare these adult and pediatric groups to identify the specific age-related plasma factors that impair immune cell mitochondrial function and drive inflammation. By understanding the mechanisms that allow adults to resist this severe inflammation, new treatments can be developed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in young children with Type 1 diabetes live longer, healthier lives.

This $75,000 competitive award is made possible by the Michael Keelan, Jr. Research Foundation Grant, an endowment managed by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and designated for cardiovascular research at the Medical College of Wisconsin Cardiovascular Research Center. Over the last 10 years, the Michael Keelan, Jr. Research Foundation Grant has leveraged over $18.2M in extramural funding for junior and mid-level investigators.

The fund, established by the Tendick Family, honors the life and career of Michael H. Keelan, Jr., MD, ’60, whose career as a cardiologist spanned several decades. Dr. Keelan has served as a member on the Cardiovascular Research Center Board.

The Cardiovascular Research Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Samer Habeel, MD, as the inaugural postdoctoral trainee in the newly established A. O. Smith Translational Research Scholar Training Program.

Dr. Habeel earned his Bachelor of Science in engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2018, and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 2023. He recently completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Connecticut before joining MCW.

At MCW, Dr. Habeel has joined the laboratory of Brandon Tefft, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering and a member of the Cardiovascular Research Center’s Signature Program in Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. Dr. Habeel’s research centers on the design and benchtop testing of an origami-inspired biological heart valve aimed at overcoming key limitations of current valve technologies. He will bridge engineering innovation and clinical practice as he transitions to fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine at MCW, with the goal of building a career as a physician-scientist advancing device-based therapies for structural heart disease.

The A. O. Smith Translational Research Scholar Training Program is physician-scientist pathway designed to strengthen the pipeline of cardiovascular physician-scientists at MCW and throughout Wisconsin. While the CVRC’s NIH-funded T32 Postdoctoral Research Training Program consistently attracts outstanding applicants, physician trainees often have less formal research experience than their PhD counterparts, making it more challenging to compete successfully for advanced research training opportunities. As a result, physicians currently represent fewer than 10% of trainees in the T32 program.

To address this gap, the A. O. Smith Translation Scholar Program provides a dedicated 12-month intensive research experience for cardiology fellows or fellowship-bound trainees interested in careers that integrate clinical medicine with scientific discovery. Working alongside accomplished investigators in CVRC-affiliated laboratories, trainees receive intensive mentorship, develop rigorous research skills, and build a strong foundation for future success in academic cardiovascular medicine, including potential transition into the CVRC T32 Postdoctoral Research Training Program.

The A. O. Smith Translational Research Scholar Training Program is made possible through the generous support of the A. O. Smith Foundation, whose philanthropic investment established the A. O. Smith Fellowship Scholars Program. This initiative is dedicated to supporting promising cardiovascular researchers and physicians as they overcome the barriers to launching and sustaining successful research careers.

The program is directed by Michael Widlansky, MD, MPH, Northwestern Mutual Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and director of the Cardiovascular Research Center.

The Cardiovascular Research Center has appointed Justin Womack, PhD, MS, as a postdoctoral trainee to the Cardiovascular Research Center’s National Institutes of Health T32 postdoctoral training program.

Dr. Womack earned his Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and biomedical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014, followed by a Master of Science in biomedical engineering from the same institution in 2019. He then completed his PhD in biomedical engineering at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University in 2025 under the mentorship of Ranjan Dash, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering.

Dr. Womack has now joined the laboratory of Lu Han, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics. Dr. Han is also a member of the Cardiovascular Research Center’s Signature Program in Cardiac Biology & Heart Failure.

His project, "Decoding Spatiotemporal Cell-Cycle Plasticity in Cardiac Regeneration," tackles one of the biggest challenges in heart disease research: the adult heart's limited ability to heal itself after an injury like a heart attack. Unlike some tissues in the body, the heart cannot easily replace damaged muscle cells. While these cells can attempt to grow and divide after injury, most fail to complete the process, leaving the heart permanently weakened.

Dr. Womack will use computational tools to build a predictive model that helps explain why some heart muscle cells successfully divide and regenerate while others do not, taking into account the cells' internal biology as well as the surrounding tissue environment. Ultimately, this work could point toward new treatments that help the heart repair itself more effectively after injury.

Building on excellence in cardiovascular research, the Cardiovascular Research Center’s T32 postdoctoral training program, “Training in Signature Transdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences,” is funded by a $2.7 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute that provides support for six postdoctoral training slots each year. The grant provides up to three years of training for appointed postdoctoral fellows in the Cardiovascular Research Center with an MD, PhD, PharmD, or DO degree. Complementary support for trainees is provided by a donation given to the Cardiovascular Research Center by the A. O. Smith Foundation for the A. O. Smith Fellowship Scholars Program, a program designed to support talented cardiovascular researchers and physicians to overcome the barriers that exist in launching and sustaining a successful research career.

The ultimate goal of this training program is to train the next generation of cardiovascular scientists and physicians, by incorporating broad-based, personalized, supportive, and rigorous training opportunities.

Dr. Womack joins three other distinguished A.O. Smith Scholars in the Cardiovascular Research Center’s T32 postdoctoral training program: Adam Knier, PhD, Alexis Smith, PhD, and Taylor Holmes, DPT, PhD. The program is currently accepting applications from highly qualified candidates. Since its inception in 2017, alumni of the program have been highly successful in publishing in high-impact journals, obtaining K and F awards, and securing faculty positions, building toward independence as cardiovascular investigators and physicians.

The program is co-directed by Mary Sorci-Thomas, PhD, professor of medicine and associate director of the Cardiovascular Research Center, Jacquelyn Kulinski, MD, professor of medicine, and Justin Grobe, PhD, of physiology and biomedical engineering, Butenhoff Family Professor of Cardiovascular Research at MCW.