Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program

The Vascular Biology and Therapeutics (VBT) Program integrates exciting new discoveries in vascular biology with closely allied clinical programs in Medicine and Surgery to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disorders. The VBT Program was established in 2000 under the leadership of Jordan Pober M.D., Ph.D. and is presently guided by Carlos Fernandez-Hernando, PhD. The goals of VBT are to apply the insights of vascular biology to improve blood flow and perfusion of organs via the identification of new therapeutic targets, development of novel treatment approaches and tissue engineering of synthetic blood vessels and organs. The VBT program has identified two broad themes of investigation:

1. Discovering new mechanisms that regulates blood vessel assembly, angiogenesis and artery formation that may give insights into diseases such as atherosclerosis, peripheral vascular disease, organ and bypass graft failure;
2. Developing endothelial cell-based approaches for tissue revascularization and for engineering of synthetic vascularized tissues and organs;

Our program-based organizational structure combines the investigative strengths of outstanding laboratory-based faculty with primary appointments in Yale's basic science departments with strong interdisciplinary clinical teams in Cardiology, Surgery and other Clinical Departments.