Main Discipline(s):
Main Professional Societies:
Affiliation(s):
- Physiology
- American Heart Association
- American Physiological Society
- Wayne State University Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology
My main area of research is salt-sensitive hypertension and how diet plays a role, specifically dietary fructose. Western diet, perhaps a bit of a misnomer as it is prevalent worldwide, is typically high in fructose and salt, and as the consumption of these nutrients increased over the past 50 years so has the incidence of hypertension and other cardiovascular disease. My central hypothesis is that dietary fructose predisposes to salt-sensitive hypertension. To interrogate this hypothesis I do studies in both rats and humans. My main goal is to generate innovative approaches to treat salt-sensitive hypertension.
It was a combination of intention and luck, but most of all it was the desire to help treat/prevent cardiovascular and renal disease.
COVID-19 –related cardiovascular and renal consequences. Given the multi-system organ targeting by this coronavirus, I would like to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic markers of such effects.
The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson – because it is a testament of resilience and perseverance by female scientists that led them to the Nobel Prize.
There are definitely many, but to pick a contemporary one I’ll go with Jennifer Doudna, the inventor of CRISPR gene editing system. She and her colleagues designed this system with an intention to treat and possibly cure human disease caused by genetic mutations. This could revolutionize how we treat many human diseases with pleotropic consequences for all humankind.
I am an avid CrossFit enthusiast. Working out gives me a sense of strength, peace and presence that I draw upon for all my roles in life: as a mother, a wife and a scientist.