Daniel Greif, MD
Cards
About
Titles
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
Co-Director, Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (YCVRC); Professor, GeneticsBiography
Dan is Professor in Departments of Medicine (Cardiovascular) and Genetics and a practicing cardiologist. Dan is co-Director of the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Stanford and M.D. from UCSF. Dan took a year off from medical school and conducted research in Dr. F. William Luscinskas’ lab at Harvard, studying leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion. After finishing medical residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, he continued there as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Thomas Michel’s lab, studying biochemistry of eNOS and calmodulin. Dan then returned to Stanford for cardiology fellowship and further postdoctoral training, investigating pulmonary artery morphogenesis in Dr. Mark Krasnow’s lab.
Dan’s lab at Yale utilizes multi-disciplinary approaches to study how blood vessels form, are maintained and go awry in disease. They primarily focus on vascular mural cells (i.e., smooth muscle cells and pericytes). In addition, Dan’s lab studies the role of fibroblasts in lung development and fibrosis. Furthermore, they investigate how these cell types interface with other cell types, including endothelial and inflammatory cells. Dan’s lab aims to gain critical insights into pathogenesis of diverse cardiovascular and pulmonary pathologies and leverage these insights into novel therapeutics to ameliorate human disease. Dan is committed to engaging young trainees of diverse backgrounds in vascular/lung research and translate fundamental discoveries to human disease. For more information, please visit Dan’s lab website: https://dangreiflab.com and/or email Dan at: daniel.greif@yale.edu.
Appointments
Cardiovascular Medicine
ProfessorPrimaryGenetics
ProfessorSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Genetics
- Greif Lab
- Internal Medicine
- Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics and Development
- Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program
- Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (YCVRC)
- Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)
- Yale Medicine
- Yale Stem Cell Center
- Yale Ventures
Education & Training
- Post-doctoral fellow
- Stanford University (2010)
- Clinical Fellow
- Stanford University (2007)
- HHMI Postdoctoral Fellow
- Brigham & Women's Hospital (2003)
- Senior Resident
- Brigham & Women's Hospital (2000)
- Intern, Junior Resident
- University of Washington (1999)
- MD
- University of Califoria-San Francisco (1997)
- BS
- Stanford University (1991)
Research
Overview
Our laboratory investigates blood vessel development and disease as well as fibroblasts in lung development and fibrotic disease. To this end, we utilize fundamental biochemical, genetic/epigenetic, -omic, computational and developmental biological approaches. We uncovered novel smooth muscle cell progenitors that undergo clonal expansion during diverse vascular diseases, such as pulmonary hypertension and atherosclerosis.
Our ongoing and planned studies of vessel and lung development, maintenance and disease use similar fundamental approaches. Our initial investigations focused on pulmonary artery development, and we are studying the morphogenesis of the walls of other vessels, such as the aorta and cerebral vasculature, and comparing and contrasting their morphogenesis with that of the pulmonary artery. Little is known about the maintenance of blood vessels, and we are interested in evaluating the patterns of cell turnover, proliferation and migration as well as the underlying mechanisms in the adult vessel wall. Moreover, diseases of the vasculature are thought to largely involve a recapitulation of developmental programs, and we are applying our approaches to study animal models of vascular diseases that involve ectopic and aberrant smooth muscle cells and pericytes, such as atherosclerosis, supravalvular aortic stenosis, restenosis, intracranial hemorrhage and pulmonary hypertension. In addition, we have extended our studies to lung fibrosis which is an important cause of hypoxia and hence pulmonary hypertension. Furthermore, we are studying clinical samples obtained from patients with vascular and lung diseases and relating them to our findings in animal models and cultured cells.
Current Research Projects:
- Excess smooth muscle in pulmonary hypertension: pathogenesis and reverse remodeling
- Arterial development, disease (atherosclerosis, supravalvular aortic stenosis), aging: progenitor cell specification, migration and epigenetics.
- Pericytes and blood-brain barrier formation: implications for intracerebral hemorrhage.
- Fibroblasts in lung development and fibrotic disease
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
Clinical Care
Overview
Daniel Greif, MD, treats patients with general cardiovascular diseases.
A professor of medicine (cardiology) and genetics, his research is focused on the science of cardiovascular and pulmonary health and disease. His lab investigates the blood vessel wall and the lung in normal development and in vascular and fibrotic pathologies. “A key component of many cardiovascular diseases is the accumulation of excess smooth muscle cells. We are uncovering the sources of these cells and the mechanisms underlying their recruitment,” says Dr. Greif.
Clinical Specialties
Links & Media
News
- September 14, 2023
New Professors in the Department of Internal Medicine
- August 11, 2023
AHA Announces 2023 Early Career Investigator Award Finalists
- January 29, 2023
Yale Study Finds Aging of Bone Marrow Accelerates Atherosclerotic Plaque Formation
- October 14, 2022
Nicoli receives 2022 AHA Established Investigator Award