Lecture Features Renowned Cardiovascular Physician
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| Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD |
It’s not every day that junior investigators in the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute rub shoulders with “icons of cardiology” but thanks to the continued support of the Feinberg family that day came on September 19. Invited to speak at the Frances Feinberg Memorial Lecture, renowned cardiovascular physician and scientist Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD, generously shared his time and expertise with members of the Northwestern community.
“Today Joe spent the morning listening to students and fellows of the Feinberg Institute present their work in progress, and, as I knew he would, he offered incisive and helpful comments,” relayed Douglas W. Losordo, MD, Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research and director of the institute, in his introduction of Dr. Loscalzo, chair of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Afterwards one of the fellows pulled me aside and asked, ‘Is there anything he doesn’t know?’ I replied that after 20 years of observation, I still haven’t figured out what that might be!”
Recognized for his contributions to the advancement of modern cardiology, Dr. Loscalzo has for a quarter of a century received numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health and industry to support his research in vascular biology, thrombosis, and atherosclerosis. In his Feinberg lecture entitled, “Oxidative Enzymopathies and Cardiovascular Disease,” this Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine at Harvard and physician-in-chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital presented some examples of his groundbreaking work in the area of oxidative stress and the mechanisms that promote the development of cardiovascular disease at the molecular and cellular levels.
“We believe oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of many vascular diseases,” said this author and/or co-author of more than 500 scientific publications, author and/or editor of 23 books, and holder of 27 patents for work in the field of nitric oxide. “And probably mediates the adverse consequences of inflammation, which underlies many different cardiovascular disorders,” he added.
Aimed at ultimately improving the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, Dr. Loscalzo’s research is fueled by translational relevance. Said Dr. Loscalzo, “The ideas either began with clinical observation and moved to the basic laboratory or were worked through the laboratory and then further explored in the clinical setting.”
The annual Feinberg lecture honors the memory of the late Frances E. Feinberg by bringing distinguished speakers to the medical school. A Chicago-area philanthropist, Frances, along with her husband, Reuben, helped endow the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute and Louis Feinberg, MD, Professorship of Ophthalmology at Northwestern University. Northwestern renamed its medical school the Feinberg School of Medicine in 2002 after receiving an extraordinary gift from the Feinberg Foundation.