Richard N. Kitsis, MD
Dr. Richard Kitsis, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Cell Biology, the Dr. Gerald and Myra Dorros Chair in Cardiovascular Disease, and Director of the Wilf Family Cardiovascular Research Institute will present this year's President's Lecture at the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) World Congress in San Diego, CA, June 30-July 4, 2013.
Dr. Kitsis has been studying cell death for nearly two decades. He and his team are exploring how cell death mechanisms like necrosis interact with apoptosis to damage the heart. Additionally, they have focused on a protein called apoptosis repressor with caspase recruitment domain (ARC), a protein that seems to be at a nexus where cardiac muscle cells make decisions about whether to live or to die. By gaining a better understanding of the cell death mechanisms linked to ARC, he hopes to develop therapies for heart attack and heart failure.
Featuring presentations from over 100 cardiovascular research experts, the ISHR World Congress provides an international forum to discuss problems and controversies of cutting-edge cardiovascular research and recognize excellence in science through awards and prizes. The President’s Lecture is held at each World Congress (every third year) and, in non-Congress years, at the annual meeting of one of the three largest ISHR Sections. Dr. Kitsis was selected to be the speaker by the Society’s International Council. His address, entitled “Understanding Cell Death in the Heart”, is scheduled as a keynote plenary lecture for the event.