Susana Cavallero PhD

At the University of Buenos Aires, she earned bachelors and PharmD degrees in biochemistry and pharmacy, and a Ph.D. in pathophysiology with a doctoral fellowship from the National Research Council (CONICET). She kicked off her cardiovascular research career by studying Chagas disease, a parasitic infection transmitted by a blood-sucking, beetle-like insect. The infection usually begins silently, but can cause heart failure within 10 to 30 years. The disease affects as many as 8 million people in endemic regions of Latin America and has spread to some areas of the US. She also researched many other aspects of cardiovascular disease, ranging from high blood pressure to the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs on the heart.

During her postdoctoral training in the USC Stem Cell laboratory of Henry Sucov, she shifted her focus to the molecular signals involved in the development of the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle. She identified a key molecule, CXCL12, that is crucial for the formation of the coronary system. Her study was published in Developmental Cell. In 2016, she received a three-year Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association to study the maturation of arteries and veins, a process that helps to determine the shape and function of every organ in the body.