ASCI / Young Physician-Scientist Awards, 2020
The Young Physician-Scientist Awards (YPSA) recognize physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research.
About the awardee
Mark E. Roeser, MD, was born with Tetralogy of Fallot and received a repair as a toddler. This fueled his interest in medicine and gave him drive in his studies. He was elected AOA at UTSW and stayed there for his general surgery training at Parkland. He did his thoracic training under Irv Kron at UVA, and found interest in lab there.
He is a congenital heart surgeon at UVA where he performed the state's first successful Berlin heart LVAD and the first successful Berlin heart BiVAD. He also performed the first Heartware HVAD pediatric implant in the state of Virginia, as well as the breadth of congenital heart surgeries. He performed the first bilateral pediatric lung transplant in the state of Virginia for pulmonary hypertension, and still operates on the occasional 80-year-old ascending aortic dissection.
His research emphasis is on treating ischemia reperfusion injury in ECMO patients. He has a K08 award and is investigating a porcine extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation model using FDA approved adenosine A2A receptor agonist Regadenoson as a preliminary study to a human trial. He also rehabilitated human donor lungs with ex-vivo lung perfusion using an A2A agonist. With his mentor, Dr. Kron, he designed an in-vivo porcine lung isolation/perfusion technique to successfully rehab septic lungs, and has applied for DOD funding using this model. He designed and patented a ventricular nitinol stent to stabilize the left ventricle and cardiac septum to negate suction events, improve laminar flow, and stabilize RV function for long term ventricular device therapies, and is currently implanting these in an ovine left ventricular assist device model. Every step of his journey has uniquely prepared him for his current research, including the Parkland Burn unit where he became interested in limiting secondary burn progression.