SFB 1213 seminar series - Guest speaker Harm Jan Bogaard, MD, PhD: "Long road towards precision medicine in pulmonary hypertension"

Harm Jan Bogaard, MD, PhD is Associate Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and specialist in pulmonary hypertension at the University Medical Center (VUmc) Amsterdam, Netherlands. In his talk

"Long road towards precision medicine in pulmonary hypertension"

he will talk about his recent work:

1) Contributions to science                                                               

His most important contribution to science is helping to put the right heart chamber on the map. Long before he started working in the field, others had shown that patients with pulmonary hypertension died from right heart failure. Nevertheless, researchers in the field focused exclusively on mechanisms of pulmonary vascular disease, and never asked themselves: why does the right heart fail? This surprised him, because he saw considerable differences between patients in adaptive capacity of the right heart. He first used a literature search on mechanisms of left heart failure to better understand right heart failure. His review compiling the possible differences between left and right heart failure was an eye opener to many and was cited >400 times. He then developed and used animal models of right heart failure to show for the first time the importance of right heart fibrosis and capillary rarefaction and to identify potential drugs to treat right heart failure. While overseeing clinical studies translating his findings, he has continued to study pulmonary vascular remodeling. His lab is one of the very few in the world that can isolate and culture lung endothelial cells from pulmonary hypertension patients. Using this unique patient material, they made significant scientific contributions. His recent publication in the leading respiratory journal on shear adaptation in the pulmonary microcirculation, is according to the accompanying editorial an important step forward in the understanding of the complex pathobiology of PAH.

2) Patient Care

He is currently involved in patient care for about 40% of his time. His activities include two outpatient clinics, the performance of procedures (bronchoscopies, right heart catheterizations), supervision of fellows and attendance of multi-disciplinary meetings. As member of the team of three pulmonologists at the VU University Medical Center Knowledge Centre for Pulmonary Hypertension, he receives many tertiary referrals from colleagues throughout the country. To the referring physicians he offers clinical expertise in pulmonary hypertension, gas exchange abnormalities and exercise physiology, as well as skills in the performance of right heart catheterizations. His work experience as a pulmonologist includes two years of staff membership in the division of pulmonary medicine and critical care at the Virginia Commonwealth University / MCV Hospital.

Everybody who is interested is very welcome to join our seminar series.

The seminars are taking place every second Tuesday from 18:00 - 19:00.