BLRD Research Career Scientist Award Application

The overall goal of this Merit Review Research Career Scientist (RCS) Award is to recognize the contributions of a non-clinician minority scientist to the VA-ORD and to the field of vascular biology. Roberto I. Vazquez-Padron, Ph.D., F.A.H.A. is renowned expert in venous and arterial occlusive diseases seeking to revamp the field with transformative and clinically relevant discoveries. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist, Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, and Tenured Professor at the DeWitt Daughtry Family Department of Surgery, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. He is also the current Director of Vascular Biology Institute and founder of the University of Miami Vascular Tissue Biobank, a one-of-a-kind biorepository of human arteries and veins which currently contains >2,000 specimens. Dr. Vazquez-Padron studies vascular occlusive diseases like restenosis, atherosclerosis, and hemodialysis vascular access failure. His goal is to identify therapeutic targets capable of reducing or inhibiting the inward remodeling associated with narrowing arteries and veins after surgery. He has established a retro-translational program (from clinical science to basic research) based on high-throughput omics that has made parading-shifting discoveries and reformulated our view of the causes of venous stenosis following arteriovenous fistula creation. Since its inception in 2005, Dr. Vazquez- Padron’s laboratory has been continuously funded from institutional and extramural sources including the American Heart Association, Florida Department of Health, Stanley Glaser Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Veterans Affairs Health System. He has published >100 original articles (H-index of 32) in highly regarded peer-reviewed journals like JCI, Nature Communications, JASN, AJKD, Kidney International, and Atherosclerosis. Dr. Vazquez-Padron is frequently invited as speaker to national and international forums. He also serves as reviewer and associate editor for prestigious journals and is currently a standing member of NIH and VA scientific review groups. Dr. Vazquez-Padron, one of the most important and rewarding roles is that of research mentor. He has successfully trained young faculty members (three current K-awardees), graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents. He is currently Co-Director of the University of Miami Kidney Innovative and Interdisciplinary Medical Education in Research Activities (UM-KIIMERA) T35 training program to produce outstanding academic nephrologists, including clinical investigators and physician-scientists.