Mark Gladwin, MD, Named AHA/ASA Distinguished Scientist of 2020

Mark Gladwin, MD, professor and chair of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine and founder of the Pittsburgh Heart, Lung, and Blood Vascular Medicine Institute, has been named one of the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association’s (ASA) Distinguished Scientists of 2020.

The AHA/ASA’s Distinguished Scientists award was established in 2003 to recognize AHA/ASA members for their significant scientific contributions that have advanced the association’s mission "to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives."

As a recipient of this award, Dr. Gladwin has joined a prominent group of scientists and clinicians whose work has advanced the understanding of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. 

About Dr. Gladwin

Dr. Gladwin's clinical specialty is in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with pulmonary hypertension and sickle cell disease. He is an expert in heart and lung complications of sickle cell disease, which occur with increasing frequency as patients are aging. 

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Gladwin has a large focus on advancing patient care through research. He has served as a principal or associate investigator on more than 25 human subject protocols and holds seven FDA INDs for the use of investigational therapeutic medications, including nitrite, carbon monoxide, L-NMMA, and sildenafil.

Dr. Gladwin's research activities have led to four major scientific discoveries: 

• The discovery that the nitrite anion is a circulating storage pool for NO bioactivity that regulates hypoxic vasodilation and the cellular resilience to low oxygen and ischemia
• The discovery of a novel physiological function for hemoglobin as an electronically and allosterically regulated nitrite reductase
• The characterization of a novel mechanism of disease, hemolysis-associated endothelial dysfunction
• The mechanistic, clinical, and epidemiological description of a human disease syndrome, hemolysis-associated pulmonary hypertension

These discoveries have resulted in more than 150 published peer-reviewed manuscripts, 25 approved human subject protocols, and more than 1,000 patient protocol enrollments at the NIH Clinical Center.

Learn more about Dr. Gladwin’s work at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine and the Pittsburgh Heart, Lung, and Blood Vascular Medicine Institute.