Photo of Yue Zhao

Yue Zhao checks an experiment in the UK Cardiovascular Research Center lab

Photo of Andrei Derbenev and Alan Daugherty

Andrei Derbenev listens to a presentation by UK Cardiovascular Research Center director Dr. Alan Daugherty.

Photo of Joey Maggard, Xuan Zhang and Alan Daugherty

(l-r) AHA director Joey Maggard, Xuan Zhang and UK Cardiovascular Research Center director Dr. Alan Daugherty

UK Receives $1 Million for Heart Research

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 1, 2008) − Their fields include nutrition, nursing, physiology, endocrinology, cardiovascular medicine, and molecular and cellular biochemistry, but these University of Kentucky researchers’ purpose is the same as the American Heart Association’s. They’re fighting heart disease and stroke.

This week, the local AHA chapter honored 12 UK cardiovascular disease investigators who are 2008 recipients of research awards totalling $1,038,000.

Often, American Heart Association grants go to researchers who are newer to the field and whose investigations, while highly meritorious, might not attract other funding. Recipients were:
  • Megan Bardgett, graduate student, Physiology, $42,000
  • Manisha Gupte, graduate student, Nutritional Sciences, $42,000
  • Chen Zhang, graduate student, Physiology, $42,000
  • Xuan Zhang, graduate student, Nutritional Sciences, $42,000
  • Yue Zhao, graduate student, Internal Medicine, $42,000
  • Jia-Rong Wu, postdoctoral fellow, College of Nursing, $88,000
  • Venkateswaran Subramanian, postdoctoral fellow, Internal Medicine, $88,000
  • Hongmei Ren, postdoctoral scholar, Internal Medicine, $88,000
  • Latha Muniappan, postdoctoral fellow, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, $47,000
  • Mitsunori Miyazaki, postdoctoral fellow, Physiology, $88,000
  • Andrei Derbenev, postdoctoral fellow, Physiology, $121,000
  • Dr. Qihai Gu, research assistant professor, Physiology, $308,000

Many American Heart Association research awards are for multiple years. Active awards at the University of Kentucky, including the new grants, total more than $5 million.

“The work we are doing is vitally important,” noted Alan Daugherty, director of the UK Cardiovascular Research Center, housed beside the UK HealthCare Linda and Jack Gill Heart Institute.

“I think it’s important to honor those who are advancing the science against cardiovascular disease,” said Joey Maggard, executive director for the American Heart Association’s Central Kentucky office. “For every dollar we raise in Central Kentucky, two come back to move the fight forward.”

Through fund-raising events, such as the Heart Ball, the Start! Heart Walk and the Go Red For Women luncheon—upcoming this fall—the American Heart Association raises money, then funds research, education and advocacy in the fight against heart disease and stroke.

UK heart researchers manage more than $25 million in active grants in their mission to reverse the troubling statistics surrounding heart disease, the leading killer worldwide and at home in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.