Online
Join us for a free online talk on "Plastics and Cardiac Health" at 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, with Nikki Posnack, PhD, associate professor of Pediatrics and associate professor of Pharmacology and Physiology (secondary), GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Her laboratory is part of the Children's National Heart Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.
Dr. Posnack’s research is focused on identifying alterations in cardiac function due to environmental risk factors. Specifically, her research investigates the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which are commonly found in consumer products, medical devices, and the environment (i.e., air, dust, water). Perturbations in cardiovascular physiology are investigated using an array of models at the cellular (atrial, ventricular, human stem cell cardiomyocytes), three-dimensional (isolated hearts, engineered cardiac tissues), and whole animal level (prenatal exposure, cardiac injury). Dr. Posnack utilizes a variety of imaging modalities, molecular biology technologies, pharmacological assays and biomedical engineering approaches in her research.
This lecture is part of the GW Biomedical Cross-disciplinary Seminar Series: Connecting Academic Research & Inquiry Across Disciplines, which explores a new cross-disciplinary topic each year. The goal is to promote networking and collaboration in translational health among researchers, health care providers, and policy makers from different disciplines to shift the paradigm—from seeking a cure to developing a strategy of prevention. The 2022-23 seminar series topic is Preventative Cardiology.
The seminar series was organized by the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Office of Integrative Medicine and Health. It is supported by departmental funding and the generosity of Ellen J. LaBelle, MD `74, RESD '78, associate clinical professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and John Pan, MD '70, RESD '74, clinical professor, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership and founding medical director, Office of Integrative Medicine and Health.