Future Leaders In Cardiovascular Research Honored With Blumenthal Prizes

Outstanding researchers in cardiovascular medicine will be honored in The Johns Hopkins Hospital Houck Lobby, as part of the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute’s annual awards ceremony named to commemorate the late Hopkins physician Stanley L. Blumenthal, B.A. ’39 and M.D. ’43.

Four postdoctoral research fellows will each receive a $750 cash price with a commemorative plaque. The award categories are for basic science (the biology behind cardiovascular disease), translational medicine (how best to apply new discoveries to patient care), and clinical science (how best to improve existing therapies).

“These awards recognize the best in Hopkins cardiology, and identify the future leaders in cardiovascular research,” says cardiologist Roger S. Blumenthal, M.D., Stanley’s son, also a graduate of Hopkins (B.A. ’81), and a professor and director of the Ciccarone Preventive Cardiology Center at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “My family is proud to support the best and brightest at Hopkins as they embark on incredible careers in medical research.”

Recipients of the 2007 Blumenthal awards are Norimichi Koitabashi, M.D. (Basic Science Prize), for a study on sildenafil (Viagra) and how the erectile-dysfunction drug may also be an effective treatment for enlarged hearts; Rhondalyn McLean, M.D. (Translational Science Prize, one of two), for identifying that post-heart attack malformations of the heart’s left ventricle, its main pumping chamber, are inherited problems; Hari Tandri, M.D. (Translational Science Prize, last of two), for using magnetic resonance imaging to identify a unique muscle contraction pattern in the right ventricle that is an early sign of a disease that can lead to fatal heart rhythms, a condition known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia; and Lois Nwakanma, M.D. (Clinical Science Prize), for research into why heart transplant recipients suffer from blood pressure buildup in the lungs.

All of these studies will be presented at this year’s Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Fla., in early November.