Michael Hill, a post-doctoral researcher working for Professor Michael Sacks, has been awarded a two-year American Heart Association (AHA) fellowship. He will receive an annual stipend of approximately $42,000 along with a $4,000 support package to help defray his training-related expenses, such as travel to scientific meetings, publications, supplies, and equipment.
Michael Hill, a post-doctoral researcher working for Professor Michael Sacks, has been awarded a two-year American Heart Association (AHA) fellowship. He will receive an annual stipend of approximately $42,000 along with a $4,000 support package to help defray his training-related expenses, such as travel to scientific meetings, publications, supplies, and equipment.
The fellowship will support Hill’s development of a computational growth and remodeling model of hypertrophy, or enlargement, of the heart’s right ventricle (RV). Hypertrophy is a response to high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries that supply blood to the lungs, a condition known as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Increased pressure on the RV from PAH makes the right side of the heart work harder than normal. Over time, this causes the RV wall to become thicker, due to the growth and remodeling response, eventually leading to right ventricle failure. Currently there are limited treatment options for PAH. The clinical goal is to use the model to help develop and evaluate promising new treatment methods.
Hill will conduct his research through the ICES Center for Cardiovascular Simulation (CCS), which he joined in March 2012 after earning his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh in December 2011.
The fellowship was made possible through the Southwest Affiliate of the American Heart Association.
