Research Training in Myocardial Biology at Stanford
A National Institute of Health (NIH)Training Program
Daniel Bernstein, MD
Program Director
Daniel Bernstein, MD, the Alfred Woodley Salter and Mabel Smith Salter Professor of Pediatrics, and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology has been on the Faculty at Stanford since 1986. In addition to his Pediatric Cardiology training at UCSF, he completed a Fellowship in Medical Education at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1983. Dr. Bernstein was appointed Chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology in 1992 and has been responsible for both the clinical and basic science aspects of the program over the past fifteen years.
Thomas Quertermous, MD
Program Co-Director
Dr Thomas Quertermous is the William G. Irwin Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. He came to Stanford from Vanderbilt University where he served as H. J. Morgan Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Cardiology. Dr. Quertermous has received numerous awards and given invited lectureships in national and international forums. He has served in study sections at the National Institutes of Health and National American Heart Association. He has served on the Editorial board of a number of journals, including Circulation, and is a frequent reviewer of manuscripts submitted to Nature and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Euan Ashley MRCP DPhil
Program Training Director
Dr. Euan Ashley is Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics at Stanford University. He is also the Director of the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease and Stanford Clinical Genomics Service. His group studies the molecular genetics of heart muscle disease using both computational and wet bench approaches. In 2009, he was awarded an NIH Director’s New Innovator award to study nanoscale approaches to allele silencing in cardiomyopathy syndromes. In 2010, he led the bicoastal, Stanford-Harvard collaborative team that carried out the first clinical interpretation of a whole human genome, that of his colleague Stanford Professor Stephen Quake. Dr Ashley is a member of the leadership group of the American Heart Association’s Council on Functional Genomics.
Terra Coakley BS, MAT
Program Administrator
Terra graduated from San Francisco State University in 1998 with a BS in Cellular and Molecular Biology and in 2000 with a BA in Developmental Psychology. She also holds her MS-CLAD teaching credential and a MAT (Masters in Teaching) from Notre Dame de Namur University. Terra came to Stanford in 2008 having been in research at University of California, San Francisco for many years.
Terra was promoted to Program Manager for the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease in 2010, but because of her interest and dedication to the Stanford Amyloid Center she maintains her role as the Amyloid Center Patient Coordinator in addition to her other duties. Terra was appointed as the Training Program Administrator for the Training in Myocardial Biology at Stanford(TIMBS) Program in 2010.
Program Overview
The Multi-Disciplinary Research Training Program in Myocardial Biology @ Stanford (TIMBS) is funded by the National Institutes of Health to bring together post-doctoral fellows and faculty from six complementary areas - genetics and genomics, cellular signaling, molecular imaging, physiology and phenotyping, cardiac development and regeneration and outcomes research and population science. Although many possible divisions exist in the spectrum of cardiovascular investigators, one of the most discrete is the division between those researchers interested in blood vessels and those primarily interested in the biology of the heart muscle itself. Myocardial biologists at Stanford are found in diverse departments and divisions within the wider Stanford community and this provides a natural vehicle for multidisciplinary training.
The Program will train 6 post-doctoral fellows from MD and PhD backgrounds together over a one to three year period beginning July 1 every year, combining myocardial biology research with a structured educational program. There are 17 faculty mentors from the School of Medicine, including Cardiovascular Medicine, Pediatric Cardiology, Radiology, Pathology, Chemical & Systems Biology, Molecular Imaging, Molecular Physiology, Bioengineering, Biochemistry and Health Sciences Research.
Program Design & Requirements
Training in Myocardial Biology fellows will pursue research over the one-three year period with the goals of oral presentations, publications, and initial grant submission to propel career advancement. Fellows will have a primary research mentor as well as a co-mentor from a complementary area (e.g. a fellow may choose a faculty member from cardiovascular medicine as their primary mentor, but choose a co-mentor from genetics because of his/her interest in cardiovascular genetics).
The TIMBS educational program emphasizes:
- a mentored research experience in translational myocardial biology
- to provide rigorous training in the scientific method
- to refine the trainees ability for logical reasoning and independent thinking
- to develop skill in oral and written communication
- to provide the trainee with junior and senior role models
- to expose the trainee to a wide range of ideas and techniques in myocardial biology
- to expose the trainee to clinical problems in heart failure and cardiomyopathy
- to instruct trainees in the responsible conduct of research
- to provide career development support and advice
Curriculum includes:
- Introductory Curriculum (first 3 months of training) (link to pdf of the Intro Curr page here)
- Frontiers in Cardiovascular Science Seminar Series (Tuesdays at 12pm)
- Didactic learning
- Seminars in Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Sciences (MED 223)
- Cardiovascular Sciences Journal Club
- CVI Fridays at Falk
- Visiting Researcher Program
- Courses and Meetings
- attend one national meeting (e.g. ACC or AHA)
- attend one specialist meeting (e.g. Cold Spring Harbor, Keystone)
To apply, see application instructions.