April Stempien-Otero
Professor of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and the Medical Director for Cardiac Transplantation at the University of Washington
April Stempien-Otero, MD is Professor of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and the Medical Director for Cardiac Transplantation at the University of Washington. She holds the Craig Tall Family Chair for Heart Failure Research. Her research focusses on the cellular and biomechanical cross-talk that leads to cardiac fibrosis. Using mouse models and tissue from diseased human hearts her lab has linked ventricular wall stress with activation of pro-fibrotic pathways that can be reversed with mechanical unloading. Current studies focus on the role of membrane receptors in transducing matrix signals and the interaction of the innate immune system with these stress signals.