People

Mehran M. Sadeghi, MD, studied medicine at Necker Enfants Malades School of Medicine and earned his medical degree from the University of Paris in 1991. Prior to establishing the Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Dr. Sadeghi completed his residency and fellowship training at Yale New Haven Hospital followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine.The goal of the Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging Laboratory is to develop novel in vivo imaging approaches to visualize, characterize and quantify molecular and cellular processes involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases, and to address novel aspects of vascular and valvular biology. This is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary effort, involving the researchers with expertise in vascular and molecular biology, molecular imaging, medical physics and chemistry. The research focus is on vascular remodeling, fibrosis and inflammation, key features of atherosclerosis, aneurysm, cardiomyopathy, and calcific aortic valve disease.Dr. Sadeghi is a recipient of the Hermann Blumgart Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and a past president of the Cardiovascular Council of the Society of Nuclear medicine and Molecular Imaging. He is a member of American College of Cardiology, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, and the North American Vascular Biology Organization.

Gunjan pursued her MS degree in Molecular Genetics at University of Leicester, United Kingdom (2009), and her PhD degree also at Department of Genetics, at University of Leicester, UK (2014). Her MSc thesis focused on investigating Human Herpes Virus-6 (HHV6) insertion in human telomeres and its effect on telomere length and function, in the Royle lab. Her PhD thesis focused on characterizing the transcriptional gene regulation and protein interactions in human pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans, in the Cashmore lab. She was involved in Identification of the regulatory genes involved in iron and copper homeostasis and she determined the molecular mechanism of action of the Cu-sensing trans-activator protein, by analysing protein - protein interactions. Gunjan continued working at the Cashmore lab at the University of Leicester as a post-doctoral fellow in 2014, where she attempted to examine localisation of ferric reductases in Candida albicans, using fluorescence microscopy. Due to her previous variant research background and training and strong interest in cancer biology, she joined the Lemmon-Ferguson lab as a Research Associate in July 2016.As part of the Yale Cancer Biology Institute, Gunjan was studying EGFR mutations involved in lung adenocarcinoma  in order to characterize whether mutation is activating or non-activating, in vivo. She was attempting to address the oncogenic potential of tumor derived somatic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor kinase domain. She created stable BaF3 mammalian cell lines, using FACS techniques for sorting - to investigate levels of phosphorylated EGFR expression between wild type (negative), known oncogenic mutations (positive) controls and unknown oncogenic mutations.  Gunjan is currently working as a Research Associate and Lab manager in the Sadeghi lab, Department of Internal medicine at Yale Cardiovascular Research Center (YCVRC) and Cardiology Department at VA hospital. Molecular imaging provides a unique opportunity to link vascular and molecular biology and imaging, ultimately leading to the development of novel imaging approaches, both for research and clinical diagnostics. The ultimate goal of research in the Sadeghi laboratory is to develop novel imaging approaches to detect the molecular pathobiology of the vessel wall in vivo. This is followed by the use of the state of the art technology to develop novel tracers targeted at relevant molecular markers, and establish molecular vascular imaging protocols in animal models of human diseases.Gunjan also acts as Lab Manager for the two Sadeghi labs located in Yale Cardiovascular Research center in School of medicine, on main campus and in VA CT Healthcare. She assists the Principal Investigator with the daily operations of both the laboratories and is responsible for managing the smooth running of the labs.

Azmi A Ahmad, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Medicine – Internal Medicine, working in the Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging Laboratory. Dr. Ahmad received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Union College and the University of Utah, respectively. His graduate research focused on electrophysiology and biophysics, where he investigated calcium signaling and SR leak in cardiomyocytes. His current research and training, under the mentorship of Dr. Mehran Sadeghi, focuses on translational research using molecular imaging to develop in vivo approaches to characterize calcific aortic valve disease and assess novel therapies. The work additionally utilizes novel tracers for molecular imaging of cardiac remodeling in various other disease models. Dr. Ahmad's postdoctoral work is funded by an NIH-T32 grant that utilizes multi-modality imaging, such as PET/CT, to detect calcification in a murine model of CAVD. He has presented his work at several conferences, and the work received the Young Investigator Award for Best Basic-Technical Abstract at the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) 26th Annual Scientific Session and Exhibition. Dr. Ahmad has established leadership experience in the postdoctoral community as Advocacy Committee Coordinator at the Yale Postdoctoral Association (YPA), as well as Outreach Chair and Co-Chair at the Yale Black Postdoctoral Association (YBPA), with an additional track record of volunteering to uplift and support underrepresented minorities. At the YPA, he organized events to promote mental health and mental health first aid training, mindfulness events, as well as postdoc appreciation and recognition events for promoting work-life balance. At the YBPA, he helps build a community for Black postdocs and allies, as well as giving back to the New Haven community through volunteer efforts at the food pantry and fundraising for the unhoused community. Most recently, he has been elected to serve on the National Postdoctoral Association’s (NPA) Postdoc Council and also serves as the Vice-Chair of the NPA’s Advocacy Committee. Dr. Ahmad has been invited to give several talks on his advocacy efforts and strategies at scientific societies such as Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and National Science Policy Network (NSPN). Dr. Ahmad continues to advocate for young scholars to feel safe to engage in respectful discussion without harassment and animus to create a diverse, inclusive, and supportive community.

Dr. Zhengxing Zhang achieved his PhD in 2010, in organic chemistry from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. He then performed his postdoctoral research in organotantalum catalysis at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. After his second postdoctoral fellowship at BC Cancer joint with the University of British Columbia in 2016, he continued to work as a research associate in the field of design and synthesis of PET/SPECT radiopharmaceuticals. He is currently an Associate Research Scientist in Cardiovascular research center at Yale University. His research interest is developing novel radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis of Cardiovascular disease.