Heart Disease Research, Researchers & News

Congratulations to the 2025 Florida Heart Research Foundation's "Stop Heart Disease Early Career Researcher of the Year" Awardee!

We are proud to announce Manual Salinas, PhD at Nova Southeastern University as our "Stop Heart Disease Early Career Researcher of the Year! Dr. Salinas will be presented with this prestigious award in the amount of $50,000 at this year's Annual Meeting of the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology which will be held August 1-3, 2025 at Disney's Yacht Club Resort in Orlando.

Manuel Salinas is a PhD at Nova Southeastern University and his work focuses on developing laboratory-based models that replicate arterial blood flow, enabling the study of endothelial dysfunction and inflammation under physiologically relevant conditions. Dr. Salinas has published in leading journals such as Circulation Research and Inflammation, and he is actively building a translational research program aimed at advancing cardiovascular health through engineering innovation. His custom-designed bioreactor platform allows researchers to investigate how mechanical forces contribute to atherosclerosis and to evaluate new therapeutic strategies in a controlled lab setting. With support from this award, Dr. Salinas will expand the system’s capabilities to enhance our understanding of vascular inflammation and accelerate the development of targeted treatments that may one day improve outcomes for patients at risk of heart disease.

Dr. Manuel Salinas is an early-career investigator and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Nova Southeastern University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Florida International University and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His research bridges vascular biomechanics and inflammation, with a focus on building lab-based models that mimic the blood flow conditions seen in cardiovascular disease. Dr. Salinas has published in leading journals such as Circulation Research and Inflammation. He is building a translational research program to advance cardiovascular health through engineering-based discovery.

His current work investigates how disturbed blood flow contributes to endothelial activation and the early development of atherosclerosis. As part of his early research, he developed a custom bioreactor system that replicates natural arterial pulsatile flow, allowing researchers to study how mechanical forces trigger inflammation and vascular dysfunction. This system is also used to evaluate potential therapies in a controlled lab setting. Now in the early stages of expanding his lab, Dr. Salinas has secured internal funding to enhance the system and extend its research applications. His long-term goal is to develop predictive models and therapeutic strategies to mitigate vascular inflammation and reduce cardiovascular risk.

Dr. Manuel Salinas will apply the Researcher of the Year grant funds to support his investigation of vascular inflammation and endothelial dysfunction under disturbed flow conditions, key drivers of early atherosclerosis. His research focuses on refining a custom in vitro bioreactor platform that replicates arterial pulsatile flow and shear stress to study endothelial responses, identify early inflammatory markers, and evaluate therapeutic compounds targeting vascular dysfunction.

Each year, in collaboration with the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, Florida Heart Research Foundation recognizes the "Stop Heart Disease Early Career Researcher of the Year". As of 2021, the now $50,000 grant is awarded to an "Early Career" investigator/researcher within the State of Florida whose research is felt to have had the broadest impact on the advancement of knowledge in the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of cardiovascular disease. To be considered for the award, the researcher must be nominated by a colleague, conduct research within, and be a resident of, Florida, be active in the arena of clinical and/or basic cardiovascular research and MUST be an early career investigator.

This prestigious award is only made possible through the proceeds of our 'Stop Heart Disease' specialty license plate in the State of Florida. Revenues from the sale of our specialty plate are used for heart disease research, education and prevention programs throughout the State. Switch your plate today and you can help in the fight against heart disease!

In 2003, we launched this program to inspire and promote excellence in cardiovascular research in the State of Florida known as the "Stop Heart Disease" Researcher of the Year Award. Miami Heart Research Institute/Florida Heart Research Foundation has been very fortunate to have achieved a close collaboration with the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, an extremely important partnership in the fight against heart disease.

Previous awards have inspired important progress in the critical areas of recognition and treatment of cardiovascular disease in diabetics, as well as in the role of gene variants in the therapy for congestive heart failure. Dr. Manuel Salinas joins this distinguished tradition with a clear vision of the role of research in improving people’s lives.

2025 Stop Heart Disease Early Career Researcher of the Year

We support and thank our past recipients. We salute:

Ariadna Herrera, PhD Candidate (2024 award winner) from Florida International University. She is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Florida International University, where she also received her Bachelor's Degree. Ariadna's PhD work focuses on investigating the structural properties and functionality of different biomaterials that are of interest for tissue engineering. She plans to use the funds from this award to further explore new materials that can be utilized for tissue engineering heart valves, such as nanofibrous scaffolds. Mechanical testing will be performed to assess how these scaffolds would behave under physiologically-relevant flow. Ultimately, these obtained parameters will be compared to that of native valves to understand which materials are most compatible to function as a valve.
Lihua Lou, PhD (2023 award winner) from Florida International University. She is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Florida International University and works in Dr. Arvind Agarwal’s laboratory on biomechanics, nanocomposites, nanofiber-based drug delivery systems and functional cardiac patches to promote tissue regeneration. The goal of her research is to explore multiscale mechanical behaviors and model the structural and viscoelastic heterogenicity of myocardium. Specifically, advanced micro-indentation techniques will be employed to characterize the mechanical response of myocardial tissue across different length scales. The data, with the spatial information, will be employed for computational modeling. This research aims to enhance our understanding of the complex mechanical properties exhibited by cardiac tissue, which is crucial for advancements in cardiac bioengineering, the development of novel therapeutic interventions, and facilitating the understanding of pathological conditions affecting myocardial mechanics.
Valentina Dargam, PhD Candidate (2022 award winner) from Florida International University. She is seeking a PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering at FIU with emphasis on developing new analytical methods using artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose early stages of cardiovascular diseases. The goal of her research is to develop low-cost, AI-based diagnostic techniques to assess the risk of heart disease, particularly in underserved and vulnerable populations. Her current PhD work consists of correlating heart sounds and electrocardiogram signals to different types of structural heart disease in an animal model. She published an article identifying that the second heart sound can be used to detect the presence of aortic valve calcification. Her remaining PhD work consists of finding markers in both heart sounds and electrocardiogram signals that correlate to different stages of heart failure.
Dr. Hooi Hooi Ng (2021 award winner) from Florida International University. Her research interest centers around identifying novel therapeutic targets for cardiovascular diseases, with an emphasis on the regulation of vascular function. The ultimate goal of her research is to identify novel therapeutic targets and treatment strategies to improve overall cardiovascular health outcomes in patients. During her PhD, she unraveled the therapeutic potential of relaxin to ameliorate diabetes-induced vascular dysfunction, and contributed to the landmark discovery of relaxin-prostaglandin interactions in the vasculature under both health and disease conditions. She has since established a strong record of research in delineating the mechanisms of relaxin action in the vascular system, as shown through a track record of publications. Her postdoctoral research builds upon this record, where she is currently examining the therapeutic effects of a small molecule compound that targets the relaxin receptor in animal models of vascular calcification.
Dr. Ki Park (2020 award winner) from the University of Florida. Dr. Park is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and an Interventional Cardiologist at the University of Florida and Malcom Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville, FL. Dr. Park's interventional skillset includes complex PCI and structural interventions. Clinical and research interests are focused on women's cardiovascular health specifically the association between pregnancy complications, such as pre-eclampsia, preterm birth and gestational diabetes and long-term cardiac risk. In line with these interests, she serves as Director of University of Florida Women's Cardiovascular Health Services.
Dr. Monica Aggarwal (2019 award winner) from the University of Florida. Dr. Aggarwal is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and the Director of Integrative Cardiology and Prevention. Her research focuses on the area of nutrition and prevention and shows patients that lifestyle based tools can be impactful and empower people to change.
Dr. Joshua Hutcheson (2018 award winner) from Florida International University, Miami. Dr. Hutcheson is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at FIU, Miami, Florida and directs the Cardiovascular Matrix Remodeling Laboratory. Dr. Hutcheson is also an active member of the Biomolecular Sciences Institute at FIU, and his research that merits this award includes discovery of cellular and molecular mechanisms of aortic valve disease and altherosclerosis and novel methods to detect these diseases in asymptomatic patients.
Dr. Brian Shapiro (2017 award winner) from the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville. Dr. Shapiro is Director of Cardiovascular Imaging at Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida as well as Assistant Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs, Mayo Medical School. Dr. Shapiro's research involves both translational and clinical studies of pulmonary vascular function and the use of non-invasive imaging including magnetic resonance to assess these properties primarily in patients with pulmonary hypertension.
Dr. YanFei Qi (2016 award winner) from the University of Florida. Dr. Qi is an Assistant Professor, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Florida. Dr. Qi is developing novel research and has set a background in the area of heart failure with preserve ejection fraction (HFpEF).
Dr. Claudia Rodrigues (2015 award winner) from the University of Miami. Dr. Rodrigues is from the interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami. She is recognized with this prestigious award for her work in identifying the protein cMyc and the important role it plays in the control of blood vessel inflammation.
Dr. David E. Winchester (2014 award winner) from the University of Florida. Dr. Winchester is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida's Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, with active research projects on the management of acute chest pain in the emergency department and appropriate use of nuclear stress testing.
Dr. Jose Pinto (2013 award winner), from Florida State University. Dr. Pinto is Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Florida State University College of Medicine. He has been applying his prodigious talents and expertise in muscle biochemistry to numerous projects further exploring the mechanisms of this muscular function.
Dr. Lena Shehadeh (2012 award winner), from the University of Miami. Dr. Shehadeh is Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Miami. She was recognized with this prestigious award for her innovative work on the molecular biology of atherosclerosis.
Dr. Mauricio Cohen (2011 award winner), from the University of Miami. Dr. Cohen is an interventional cardiologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami. His major clinical and research interests include novel antithrombotic strategies, transradial cardiac interventions, and health care disparities.
Dr. Jianquin Wei (2010 award winner), from the University of Miami. Dr. Wei was our eighth recipient of this prestigious award. Dr. Wei is an Assistant Research Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami. He is a trained invasive cardiologist and has acquired skills not only in mouse microsurgery, but also in a wide range of molecular biology techniques, enabling him to participate in, plan and coordinate all phases of research in cardiology, from transcriptional analysis to drug testing.
Dr. Anthony Bavry (2009 award winner), from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Bavry was our seventh recipient of this prestigious award. He has been at the forefront of exploring the current controversy regarding stent thrombosis and the risk for stent thrombosis in drug eluting stents. His current research focuses on two areas of critical importance that require clinical attention-the most appropriate strategy for women with acute coronary syndromes, and the most appropriate management to alter the poor prognosis of patients with peripheral arterial disease.
Dr. Richard S. Schofield (2008 award winner), from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Schofield was our sixth recipient of this prestigious award. His ground-breaking efforts in caring for patients with congestive heart failure address the application of advanced therapeutics. Dr. Schofield is concerned not only with advancing the science of health care, but with determining the most cost effective ways to translate that knowledge into direct patient care.
Dr. Joy Lincoln (2007 award winner), Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology with the University of Miami. Dr. Lincoln was our fifth recipient of this prestigious award. Her ground breaking efforts in both the clinical and basic science arenas have paged the way for these advances. Most recently, her outstanding work in the molecular and cellular regulation of heart formation is groundbreaking.
Dr. Dominick J. Angiolillo (2006 award winner), Associate Director of Cardiovascular Research at the University of Florida/Jacksonville. Dr. Angiolillo was our fourth recipient of this prestigious award. His ground-breaking efforts in both the clinical and basic science arenas have paved the way for these advances. Most recently, his outstanding work on physiology and genetics of platelet function, as well as on the mechanisms of atherosclerotic inflammation have advanced our understanding of coronary artery disease, as well as opening new vistas for potential therapies.
Dr. Nanette Bishopric (2005 award winner), Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Dr. Bishopric was our third recipient of this prestigious award. Her ground-breaking efforts in both the clinical and basic science arenas have paved the way for these advances. Most recently, her outstanding work on the molecular biology of heart cells and their response to oxidative stress as well as the molecular and genetic mechanisms of cell death has improved our understanding of the clinical and genetic causes of sudden cardiac death.
Dr. Daniel Pauly (2004 award winner), Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Pauly was our second recipient of this prestigious award. His ground-breaking efforts in both clinical and basic science arenas have paved the way for these advances. Most recently, his work in the area of gene therapy and intercellular signaling mechanisms has improved our understanding and treatment of coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure.
Dr. Marco Costa (2003 award winner), assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Florida in Jacksonville. Dr. Costa was our first recipient of this prestigious award. For his achievements in cardiovascular research in both the clinical and basic science arenas have paved the way for these advances. Most recently, his work in the area of drug-eluting stents has been largely responsible for helping to make these life-saving devices a clinical reality for so many victims of heart disease.