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Her love affair with the heart began long before her career as a medical scientist that took her from Harvard Medical School to Duke University, and now to UofGH’s Kinesiology program.
“I’ve loved working with the heart. Always. Imagine a world where we can repair cardiac function with non-invasive methods,” says Dr. Mojgan Rezvani.
A most significant finding came while working as group leader at Harvard. She and her team injected genetically engineered adult stem cells into an infarcted heart (a myocardial infarction – otherwise known as a heart attack).
“We know that adult stem cells are important because they’re less likely to be rejected. If we can somehow reprogram them to become something else – like cardiac cells – then these cells can replace the damaged cells and bring back function.”
She and her team showed a significant reduction in scar tissue and an increase in functionality; a research area that is still today being investigated.
“Just imagine the impact on cardiac patients.”
She continues, “This is what we do, as scientists. We bring a better quality of life to real people. And this is what I bring to my students.
I bring a connection to life. I bring meaning to the subject. I bring my students into my world of research so that they can see all the areas it can be applied – to pharmaceuticals, to medicine, to forensics. My love for teaching matches my love of the heart – and I want my students to fall in love with these subjects, just as I did.”
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Rezvani earned a BSc (Honours) Biology and a MSc Biology from York University, an MSc in Education from D’Youville College in New York, a PhD in Medical Science from the University of Toronto, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in Medical Science/Cardiogenetics/Biotech/Stem cell research.
While at Harvard, she led the gene therapy program, before transferring to Duke University where she focused on stem cell research and large scale genetic profiling.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
- Cardiovascular & molecular genetics research
- Stem cell research
- Genetic profiling
- Cellular and molecular biology
- Cell transplantation therapy