Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Director, Hypoxia Core, VMI

Bio

Dr. Al Ghouleh is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and principal investigator in the Vascular Medicine Institute and Center for Pulmonary Vascular Biology and Medicine. He is also the Director of the of the Animal Hypoxia Core.

Dr. Al Ghouleh completed his training in vascular, redox and free radical biology. He received his PhD from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, studying the role of NADPH oxidase (Nox) in vascular endothelial dysfunction during sepsis in Dr. Sheldon Magder’s lab, where he identified a role for Nox-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) in LPS-induced endothelial activation. His work uncovered that Nox-ROS post-transcriptionally modulate mRNA stability of key inflammatory markers associated with sepsis and septic shock such as IL-6, IL-8 and ICAM-1. Dr. Al Ghouleh then joined the lab of Dr. Patrick Pagano where he completed his postdoctoral training focused on studying vascular smooth muscle disease-related phenotypes and feed-forward ROS and Nox signaling. He also identified new roles for pulmonary vascular endothelial Nox1 and right ventricle cardiac Nox4 isoforms in pulmonary hypertension.

Research Interests

Dr. Al Ghouleh’s lab studies pulmonary hypertension (PH), a devastating disease that currently has no treatment. His research is focused on three main areas:

1. 1. Defining the mechanisms underlying right ventricular phenotypic changes in PH.
   2. Uncovering upstream mechanisms of pulmonary vascular endothelial reprogramming in PH.
   3. Understanding the role of the microbiome in PH.

For more information: Al Ghouleh Lab

Education and Training

PhD, McGill University, 2009

Postdoc, Pagano Lab, University of Pittsburgh, 2013

Selected/Representative Publications

For a complete bibliography, click here.