Kristine DeLeon-Pennell, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina, United States
Dr. Kristine DeLeon-Pennell is an Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She received her PhD in 2011 at Baylor University and was trained in cardiac physiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. DeLeon-Pennell’s research is focused on dissecting the interplay of pre-existing variables such as chronic inflammation, sex, and age on cardiovascular events. This includes dissecting the influence of the innate and adaptive immune system on cardiovascular remodeling, understanding the dynamics and function of bio-molecules involved in cardiac remodeling, and utilizing the knowledge acquired to develop therapeutic strategies to prevent, slow, or reverse the progression to heart failure.
Shannon Dunn, PD, PhD, Sunnybrook Research Institute and University of Toronto, Canada
Dr. Dunn is an Associate Professor of the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto. She is also a scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute and is the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Sex and Gender chair in immunity. She leads a research program that focuses on how risk factors for multiple sclerosis (MS) including female sex, obesity, and cigarette smoking impact the immune system to modulate the development and progression of central nervous system autoimmunity. She employs both animal models of MS and studies of human blood cells to investigate how these risk factors modulate the immune system. In her past work, she made important contributions to the understanding the role of female sex and obesity enhance autoimmunity by increasing T helper 1 inflammation.
Professor DeLisa Fairweather, PhD, Mayo Clinic Florida, United States
DeLisa Fairweather, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic Florida with a joint appointment in the Department of Immunology. She is Vice-Chair of Translational Research for the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine and Co-Director of Research for the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) Clinic at Mayo Clinic Florida. She has studied sex differences in autoimmune disease, with a focus on myocarditis, for 25 years. She served on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) committee to examine the NIH autoimmune disease portfolio which led to the formation of the Office of Autoimmune Disease Research in October 2023.
Justin Van Beusecum, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina, United States
Dr. Van Beusecum received his graduate school training in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After completing his Ph.D., Justin pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology where he studied the role of immunity of vascular dysfunction in hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Van Beusecum was recruited to the Medical University of South Carolina in the Division of Nephrology. His research is focused on understanding the interaction and interplay between immune cells and endothelial cells in the genesis of autoimmunity and hypertension in a sex-dependent manner.
