Aikawa Elena, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is also Co-director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Sciences (CICS), Founding Director of the Heart Valve Translational Research Program (HVTRP) and Associate Head of Cardiovascular Life Sciences Section at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Dr. Aikawa is a passionate advocate for the early imaging and treatment of calcific aortic valve disease. Dr. Aikawa’s primary research focuses on the development of new therapies to prevent and treat calcific aortic valve stenosis, a disease that currently has no treatment options except invasive valve replacement. She was at the forefront in the discovery of inflammation-dependent mechanisms of cardiovascular calcification. Her studies contributed to the discovery of calcifying extracellular vesicles as a precursor of microcalcification (Circulation Research 2013; Nature Materials 2016, Journal of Clinical Investigation 2016). More recently she used systems approaches, involving multi-omics and network medicine, to identify novel therapeutic targets (Circulation 2018).
Dr. Aikawa is a member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Working Group on Calcific Aortic Valve Stenosis and the Alliance of Investigators on Calcific Aortic Valve Disease. She holds editorial board member positions at PLoS ONE, Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, Circulation Research and Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. Dr. Aikawa has delivered more than 160 keynote lectures, invited talks and cardiovascular grand rounds, and authored more than 210 manuscripts on cardiovascular pathobiology. Her research program has been continuously supported by NIH funding.
In addition to her strong interest in research, Dr. Aikawa also enjoys educating and mentoring young scientists. Throughout her career, she has trained a number of research fellows, as well as medical and PhD students. Dr. Aikawa additionally remains committed to advancing the careers of women in science and medicine. She cofounded the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Committee for Internationally Trained Women Faculty in 2004 and founded the annual Women in Medicine and Science Symposium at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2012. Dr. Aikawa is a vice-chair of the American Heart Association Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Women’s Leadership Committee. In 2016, Dr. Aikawa was elected as President of the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology (ISACB). She is serving as the society’s first female president.
To learn more about Dr. Aikawa and her work, visit the CICS website
PubMed
Scopus ID: 55303859000
