Who we are
A lab built around one question and many disciplines.
Our research runs from bedside cohorts to bench mechanism, so the team includes physicians, scientists, statisticians, and trainees.
Life in the lab
Breaking ground and breaking bread.
Symposia, send-offs, holidays, and the occasional river. Photographs span the Michigan years through Galveston.
Principal Investigator
Salim S. Hayek, MD
Chair and Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Salim Hayek is a cardiologist and NIH-funded physician-scientist who turns biomarker biology into risk prediction clinicians can act on. His work identified suPAR, the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor, as a causal and modifiable driver of disease across the kidney, heart, and vasculature. The findings appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation. His group is working to turn it from a biomarker into a therapeutic target through human genetics, mechanistic models, and two patented anti-suPAR approaches.
A specialist in cardio-oncology, he created the CARE-BMT registry and used it to derive a cardiovascular risk score for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. He also created an immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis registry that contributes to the international immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis consortium. He is a former Chair of the American Heart Association's Cardio-Oncology Committee.
He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2026. He has received the American College of Cardiology's Douglas P. Zipes Distinguished Young Scientist Award, the American Heart Association's Samuel A. Levine Early Career Investigator Award, and the Jerome W. Conn Award for Excellence in Research. He chairs the Department of Internal Medicine at UTMB and holds an adjunct appointment in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Michigan. He was previously at the American University of Beirut, the University of Ottawa, and Emory University.
- Inflammation
- Biomarkers
- Risk Prediction
- Heart, Kidney & Metabolic Disease
- Cardio-Oncology
The team
Faculty Collaborators
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Mete Altintas, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Podocyte biology and suPAR in kidney disease, including focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, diabetic kidney disease, and the intersection of kidney and cardiovascular disease.
Background
Dr. Altintas earned a BS, MS, and PhD in chemical engineering at Bogazici University in Istanbul, then did postdoctoral work at the University of Colorado and in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Altintas held faculty appointments at Harvard, the University of Miami, and Rush University before moving to UTMB in 2023.
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Anand Singh, PhD
Assistant Professor
Basic science research in cardio-oncology, cardio-immunology, and the suPAR program, including how targeted cancer therapies injure the heart.
Background
Dr. Singh earned a PhD in molecular medicine from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, then completed postdoctoral fellowships in cardiovascular medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Before joining UTMB, Dr. Singh was a Research Investigator in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Michigan Medicine.
Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Staff
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Anis Ismail, MD, MSc
Postdoctoral Fellow
Genetic and molecular mechanisms of suPAR in cardiovascular and kidney disease.
Background
He earned his MSc in biology and medical sciences and his MD from Université Saint-Joseph in Lebanon, and previously studied early cardiac fibrosis and clinical predictors of COVID-19 outcomes.
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Ramya Elangovan, MS
Senior Research Associate
Inflammatory mechanisms in cardiovascular disease, with a focus on suPAR-driven macrophage responses.
Background
She earned her MS in medical biotechnology from the University of Illinois Chicago and worked in the biotechnology industry before joining the lab.
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Grace Erne
Research Associate
Cardiovascular research.
Background
She earned her BS in biomolecular science from the University of Michigan, where she joined the lab as a first-year student through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and stayed on as a research assistant. She moved with the lab to UTMB and plans to pursue an MD-PhD with a focus on cardiology research.
Medical Students
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Maarya Akmal
Medical Student, c/o 2026
Clinical and cell culture research in cardiovascular disease.
Background
She earned her BS in public health from Texas A&M University and conducted research at the National Institute of Mental Health before medical school.
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Thierry Kochkarian
Medical Student, c/o 2026
Preventive cardiology in electronic health records, including antithrombotic therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists.
Background
He plans a career in cardiology, with a particular interest in bringing nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle change into evidence-based care.
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Bobby Bobby
Medical Student, c/o 2027
Basic and clinical projects on the inflammatory drivers of cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic disease.
Background
He earned his BS in nursing from UTMB and worked as a critical care and perioperative nurse at UTMB and the Texas Medical Center before medical school.
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Niyanshi Gaddam
Medical Student, c/o 2027
The intersection of cardio-oncology and psychiatry.
Background
She earned her BS in biology from Texas A&M University.
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Mckenna De Bever
Medical Student, c/o 2028
How troponin I and troponin T change over time in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Background
She earned her BS in biomedical sciences and her MS in medical sciences from Texas A&M University.
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Sophia Syed
Medical Student
The role of suPAR in cardiac transplantation.
Background
She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and worked with the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium before starting a dual MD/MPH degree at UTMB.
Research Operations
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Pennelope Kunkle
Program Manager
Research operations for the lab and project support for the UTMB Transformation Office.
Background
She earned her BS in biochemistry and chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and has managed translational research laboratories for more than 15 years at the University of Michigan, Scripps Research Institute, and SUNY Stony Brook.
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Theresa Farhat, PhD
Scientific Writer and Editor
Scientific communications and grant development.
Background
She trained in biochemistry and molecular genetics at the American University of Beirut and earned her PhD in human genetics from McGill University. She has led research and program management work in global health.
Where they went
Alumni
41 trainees and staff have come through the lab across Michigan and Galveston. Many are now in cardiology fellowships, faculty posts, or graduate training of their own.
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- Chris Adam Research assistant, undergraduate
- Kingsley Amadi Master's in biotechnology, Georgetown University
- Elizabeth Anderson, MPH Research associate
- Tariq Azam, MD Attending cardiologist, North Shore University, Chicago
- Alina Bardwell Project associate, John Snow, Inc., Boston
- Hanna Berlin, MD Obstetrics and gynecology residency, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak
- Brayden Bitterman Research associate
- Tonimarie Catalan Clinical research coordinator
- Jiazi Chen Moved to computer science
- Ryan Paul Clarance Biostatistics undergraduate
- Kristen Machado Diaz Clinical research coordinator
- Mohamad Fardous Research, completing a BCN degree
- Rafey Feroze, MD Cardiology fellowship, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve
- Bahjat Ghazzal, MD Internal medicine resident, UMass Chan Medical School
- Maggie Ginter-Frankovich Claesen Lab, Cleveland Clinic
- Bhavna Guduguntla, MD Internal medicine residency, Washington University
- Christopher Hoeger, MD Cardiovascular medicine fellowship, Beth Israel Deaconess, Harvard
- Jakob Hupe Medical student research fellow
- Christina Hutten, PhD, MS Postdoctoral research fellow
- Christopher Launius Study coordinator, Schuler Lab, University of Michigan
- Chelsea Meloche, MD Cardiology fellowship, Texas Heart Institute, Houston
- Nathan Meyette, BSN, RN Traveling nurse, preparing for medical school
- Moses Nelapudi Honors research thesis student, moved to patient care
- Patrick O'Hayer, MD Chief medical resident, internal medicine
- Kishan Padalia, MD Cardiology fellowship, Colorado
- Michael Pan, MD Cardiology fellowship, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
- Daniel Perry, MD Trinity Health Michigan
- Ian Pizzo Clinical research coordinator
- Feriel Presswalla Research laboratory specialist
- Matthew Rochlen Undergraduate research program student, headed for medicine
- Husam Shadid, MD Cardiology fellowship, UT Houston and MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Easheta Shah Public health studies, University of Michigan
- Rohan Shah Medical student, UTMB; internal medicine residency
- Iman Shaikh Summer undergraduate research fellow, applying to medical school
- Noor Sulaiman Research assistant
- Annika Tekumulla Laboratory assistant, undergraduate
- Caroline Tilley Patient care technician, applying to physician assistant programs
- Medha Tripathi Research assistant, undergraduate
- Alexi Vasbinder, PhD, RN Assistant professor, University of Washington School of Nursing
- Jeffrey Xie, MD, PhD Basic science at Michigan, headed for a cardiology fellowship
- Peiyao Zhao Biostatistics, University of Michigan School of Public Health