Ke Yuan recognized by AHA as promising young investigator

While physicians and cardiovascular health care experts around the country were making last minute preparations to attend November’s American Heart Association Scientific Session in Chicago, Ke Yuan, postdoctoral fellow (pulmonary and critical care), and her advisor Vinicio de Jesus Perez, assistant professor (pulmonary and critical care), were carefully honing her presentation skills.

Earlier this year, Yuan learned that she had been one of five candidates selected to present at the AHA’s annual conference. “I was offered an opportunity to actually present my work in front of a panel of judges who are leaders in the pulmonary cardiovascular field.”

Their hard work paid off. On November 18, Yuan received the Cournand and Comroe Young Investigator Award for her work on pulmonary hypertension. The award acknowledges “the research and accomplishments of early career investigators and encourages them to continue their research in biomedical sciences.”

Her research examines the Wnt/PCP signaling in endololethial cell and pericyte interactions during pulmonary blood vessel formation. “Most pulmonary hypertension research focuses on endolethial cells, but I focus on a cell type called pericyte, a smooth-muscle-like cell that is found in capillaries,” Yuan explains. Ultimately, she aims to understand the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the pathology of pulmonary hypertension.

Yuan first came to Stanford in 2011 as a postdoctoral fellow. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology in 2006 and a PhD in biology in 2011.  Early in her academic career, she became interested in disease pathology. “I was a biology major as an undergrad, but I always tried to explore why human diseases could not be cured. I wanted to find out how we could discover the pathology of diseases like that.”

Perez praised Yuan’s industriousness and talent and well as her independence. “Most projects take four to six years to get off the ground, but she made this project work in three years, which is quite uncanny.”

Yuan, in turn, praised Perez’s unwavering support. “Vinicio is always enthusiastic and energetic. He is always encouraging me and all the people in the lab to pursue what we’re interested in, which is very important. When I have a student, I hope to pass on the same spirit.”