Luis Martinez-Lemus

Professor

Medical Pharmacology and Physiology,

James O. Davis Distinguished Professorship in Cardiovascular Research

Dr. Martinez-Lemus’ research is broadly focused on cardiovascular and metabolic disorders with emphasis in vascular remodeling and the geometric reorganization of wall components in blood vessels. Vascular remodeling plays an important role in numerous physiological and pathological phenomena, from vasculogenesis and angiogenesis to vascular stiffening and arteriosclerosis. It particularly plays a preponderant role in the incidence of life-threatening cardiovascular events associated with obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and aging. His experience in this area of biomedical science is extensive. Dr. Martinez-Lemus has a long history of performing research investigating the mechanisms that promote specific functional and structural changes in all components of the vascular wall. He has been continuously funded by intramural funds from the American Heart Association, the National Science Foundation, the NIH, and industry to perform cardiovascular research from his postdoctoral years to present day. Dr. Martinez-Lemus’ research has provided the foundation of current paradigms in vascular stiffening and remodeling that indicate structural and mechanical changes in vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and the vascular extracellular matrix are essential in the early stages of the remodeling process.

Over the years, he has successfully administered funded projects and produced peer-reviewed publications that are highly cited. Of particular importance is Dr. Martinez-Lemus’ experience and success at interacting with multiple investigators with expertise in diverse disciplines to study cardiovascular pathophysiology. His collective experience and history of collaboration has allowed him to expand his research endeavors from the use of state-of-the-art molecular, animal modeling and imaging techniques to performing studies in human subjects.