Center for CardioVascular Research

Founded in 2005, the Center serves to promote collaborative, multidisciplinary, and state-of-the-art research at UIC and affiliated institutions, and in so doing, realize the application of new discoveries for clinical utility and provide world-class training for the coming generations of basic and clinician-scientists.

The primary goals of the Center include: creating new knowledge that will transform understanding of cardiovascular science for application to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of heart and vascular diseases; providing basic and clinical science trainees with advanced educational experiences ranging from molecular to clinical levels; impacting the health and quality of life of residents of Chicago and Northern Illinois by enhancing the training of health care professionals in cardiovascular disease and in educational programs in conjunction with national efforts such as with the American Heart Association and the Heart Failure Society of America; and providing a point of interaction between the University and its industrial partners.

Mission Statement: The Center for Cardiovascular Research is a UIC and Chicago based group of researchers and clinicians whose goals are to promote cardiovascular health, to reduce disability and death from heart and vascular disease, and to provide world-class training for new generations of basic and clinician-scientists.

We are a world-class center of excellence at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We’ve brought together more than 30 laboratories and facilities on campus focused on defining cures for cardiovascular diseases.

The Center supports interdisciplinary research in basic, translational, and clinical cardiovascular sciences on the Medical Campus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in the heart of one of the largest metropolitan cities in the United States. This provides an excellent environment for interactive research, better training opportunities for doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, medical students, residents, and fellows with the express goal of recruiting and training talented leaders in cardiovascular science for the future.

NETWORKING PLATFORM

The Priority of the CCVR is to provide a campus-wide platform for networking faculty and trainees with common interests in the cardiovascular sciences. Our quarterly Colloquium in Cardiovascular Sciences, and yearly Research Day Symposium serve to meet this interdepartmental platform. It is through this network that collaborative efforts have emerged and succeeded at UIC. We offer a vibrant environment important for recruitment and retention of faculty. As a center, we are also uniquely positioned to pursue joint fund raising opportunities among participating clinical and basic science department in conjunction with our UIC development officers.

CORE SERVICES

Models of Heart Disease & Animal Physiology Measures.  Through our partnership with the RRC, we are now able to support of our faculty research by providing several core services for monitoring animal physiology. This adds to our growing number of animal models of heart disease now available to both interdepartmental CCVR members and nonmembers. The Center is also a pivotal element in developing and sustaining our mouse phenotyping core. These services and models provide a powerful scientific base in support of our junior faculty capabilities, professional competitiveness, and career advancement.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Important to the mission of our Center is the education of our students. Indeed, no one department has the pool size of students and faculty necessary to support the cardiovascular coursework needed to train our leaders for tomorrow. Currently the CCVR offers four course electives with lectures in heart pathophysiology, clinical studies, muscle contraction, disease treatment strategies, and experimental & clinical methods. Lectures are provided by faculty from the CCVR that include clinicians to enhance interaction with clinical departments. Completion of the coursework, together with laboratory studies focused on the heart, enables students from participating departments to receive their Ph.D. degree conferred with a concentration in Cardiovascular Science.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH INITIATIVES

• Ad hoc review committees of CCVR members funding proposals
• Colloquiums pairing multiple presenting faculty for team science
• Initiating team science workshop dinners
• Funding sources search support