We are pleased to announce that for our next seminar Dr Rebecca R. Vanderpool, Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Ohio State University, will give a talk on the 'Biomechanics of the right ventricle in pulmonary hypertension' on Friday 28 April 2023. 

Abstract: 

Increased right ventricular (RV) diastolic stiffness significantly associates with outcomes in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Ventricular dynamics are important to understanding the complex pathophysiology of right ventricular dysfunction. Right ventricular biomechanics including structure, stress, strain and stiffness can be used to help identify clinically meaningful imaging features that clearly distinguish between normal and abnormal RV structure and function. Quantification of RV mechanics including ventricular stiffness and wall tension can further describe the type of ventricular adaptation. We hypothesize that the inclusion of right ventricular mechanics will improve risk assessment in PAH. Current research goals are to incorporate biomechanical markers of right ventricular function into risk stratification models in patients with PAH. We propose to use specific ventricular geometries to get better estimates of wall tension, stress and strain. These biomechanical features will be incorporated into risk and machine learning models to identify novel phenotypes.

Brief biography: 

Rebecca R. Vanderpool, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Ohio State University. Dr Vanderpool earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She completed her first postdoctoral fellowship in Physiology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels. She subsequently completed a second postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical/Translational Research at the University of Pittsburgh. She was previously an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona before moving to OSU.

Dr Vanderpool’s research focuses on three areas: 1) Clinical Assessment of the Pathophysiology of RV Function, 2) Imaging (MRI and CT) based assessments of RV and pulmonary vascular structure and 3) Exercise Testing to investigate effect of pulmonary vascular disease on exercise physiology. In patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and animal models of PH, we investigate and quantify right ventricular-vascular coupling and pulmonary vascular stiffness. Our current work focuses on developing new prognostic and diastolic markers of right ventricular function in patients with pulmonary vascular disease.