# Cardiovascular Bioengineering Training Program

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $395,149

## Abstract

The Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh (UPitt) is seeking continued support for a
predoctoral training program (8 positions/year) aimed at educating talented students from engineering and
other quantitative sciences for careers in biomedical research in the cardiovascular area. UPitt has been at
the forefront of education and research in this field, with two key components contributing to this status.
First, a mechanism is in place whereby our students are exposed first-hand to actual clinical problems
requiring bioengineering input for their solution within various medical disciplines (e.g., cardiology, cardio-
thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, radiology). Second, there has been, and continues to be, a significant
Institutional commitment to these research and educational endeavors. The proposed program is
interdisciplinary in nature. Although the Department of Bioengineering forms the core, the training faculty is
drawn from a number of departments: Biomedical Informatics, Chemical Engineering, Medicine (Cardiology,
Pulmonary Medicine), Critical Care Medicine, Pharmacology, Surgery, and Orthopaedic Surgery. The
participating faculty members are (bio)engineers, physiologists/biophysicists, cell & molecular biologists,
biomedical informatics specialists, cardiologists, and pulmonologists, with vigorous and well-funded
research programs. There are three focus areas of this program: (1) Basic understanding and quantitative
characterization of native (normal and pathological conditions) and perturbed (i.e., with deployment of man-
made devices or constructs) cardiovascular function at various levels of organization (cell, tissue, whole
organ), (2) Imaging for functional assessment at various levels of organization (cell, tissue, whole organ),
and (3) Design and optimization of artificial devices and constructs (mechanical, tissue-engineered, and
hybrid). The current proposal includes an explicit emphasis on biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship,
which is consistent with the significant translational research performed by the Program faculty and
trainees. Although most Program trainees have (bio)engineering background, some come from other
disciplines (e.g., biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics). Program coursework (10 didactic courses and
several workshops) is designed to provide both breadth and depth in engineering and biological sciences
and also includes a formal exposure to biostatistics, bioethics, and professional and career development
issues. A novel aspect of the program is that students are required to formally participate in a clinical
experience (Clinical Internship and Rotation). Thus, the training program provides a unique educational and
research experience with respect to basic and applied cardiovascular engineering and sciences. Finally,
each student receives extensive research training in the laboratories of the training faculty. Twenty six
predoctoral trainees have participated in the program during...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9999012
- **Project number:** 5T32HL076124-14
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** SANJEEV G SHROFF
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $395,149
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2005-08-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9999012

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9999012, Cardiovascular Bioengineering Training Program (5T32HL076124-14). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9999012. Licensed CC0.

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