by Cindy A. Abole, Public Relations

Renowned Harvard cardiovascular geneticist, Jonathan Seidman, Ph.D., will conduct a series of small group discussions and mini-symposia Sept. 23 through 25. His presentations will focus on research in cardiovascular biology as a Pfizer Visiting Professor in Cardiovascular Cardiology.

Seidman will consult with academic and administrative leaders about strengthening cardiovascular genetics research at MUSC. He is sponsored by J. Philip Saul, M.S., professor and director of pediatric cardiology and Woodrow Benson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatric cardiology.

“Dr. Seidman and his wife (Christine Seidman, M.D., Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics) have contributed to some of the early work which initially sparked interest in the field of cardiovascular medicine,” said Benson. “Their efforts have paved the groundwork for a new paradigm of cardiovascular research.” Benson completed his post-doctoral work with Seidman at Harvard from 1995 to 1997.

At noon Wednesday, Sept. 23, Seidman will present a cell biology seminar titled “Familial Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy in Mice and Men.” It will be conducted in the Basic Sciences Building, department of cell biology conference room, sixth floor. Friday, Sept. 25, Seidman will present the Pediatric Grand Rounds at the Storm Eye Institute Auditorium, eighth floor. His lecture is titled, “A Genetic Cause of Atrial Septal Defect: Nkx2-5 Mutations.” Roger Stephenson, Ph.D., director of the Self Research Institute of the Greenwood Genetic Center, will host one mini-symposium.

Seidman is a graduate of Harvard University and received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He completed post-doctoral work with Philip Leder, Ph.D., at the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is the Henrietta and Frederick Bugher professor of cardiovascular genetics at Harvard Medical School and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He previously worked in various positions at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Genetics and as an investigator with the NICHD, NIH.

In 1991, he and his wife were presented with the Fifth Annual Pasarow Foundation Award for Research in Cardiovascular Sciences.

Seidman has made seminal contributions to cardiovascular medicine through the study of human molecular genetics of cardiovascular disease and the development and characterization of transgenic mouse models of cardiovascular disease.