Download ROBERT E. MICHLER, M.D. Positions: Research interests:

ROBERT E. MICHLER, M.D.
Positions:
Professor and Chair, Departments of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery and of Surgery
Samuel I. Belkin Professorial Chair, (YU), Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Surgeon-in-Chief, Montefiore Medical Center
Co-Director, Montefiore Einstein Center for Heart and Vacsular Care
Research interests:
Dr. Michler is an internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon who has helped develop the field of pediatric
heart transplantation and the modern era of adult heart transplantation. In addition, he has transformed surgery
for complex heart disease in patients with heart failure. Dr. Michler pioneered minimally invasive and robotic
surgery on heart patients as well as the safe use of human skeletal muscle-cell injections into the damaged heart.
His clinical research focuses on the surgical treatment of heart failure; his laboratory research concentrates on the
use of stem cells for myocardial regeneration. He is the principal investigator for a five-year, NIH-funded research
grant aimed at improving the scientific basis of care in cardiovascular disease. His laboratory research focuses
on endogenous cardiac stem cells, specifically c-kit+ stem cells. Together with his long standing collaborator, Dr.
Pierro Anversa (with whom he shares an NIH award), he has worked to identify the existence of these specific cells
in humans as well as further phenotyping these cells into vascular niches and myocyte niches. Dr. Michler and his
teams work in large animal models, and have demonstrated that the transplanted dog heart can be repopulated
with blood vessels and muscle cells of donor origin. This work is advancing the field of stem cell therapies and Dr.
Michler is working to receive approval for several human clinical trials using c-kit+ cells.
Current grant funding:
5U01 HL69015-03 (Jones)
NIH/NHLBI
07/01/2002–Present
Surgical treatment for ischemic heart (STICH) failure trial;
Multicenter NHLBI clinical trial
UO1HL088939-01 (Michler)
NIH/NHLBI
07/01/2007–06/30/2012
Network for Cardiothoracic Surgical Investigation in
Cardiovascular Medicine
1P01 HL092868-01 (Anversa)
NIH/NHLBI
07/01/2008–06/30/2013
Rebuilding the failing heart: Investigate the use of progenitor cells
(PCs) from the recipient to repopulate the donor heart with
immunocompatible cardiomyocytes and coronary vessels
Five recent publications:
1.
Bearzi C, Leri A, Lo Monaco F, Rota M, Gonzalez A, Hosoda T, Pepe M, Qanud K, Ojaimi C, Bardelli S,
D’Amario D, D’Alessandro DA, Michler RE, Dimmeler S, Zeiher AM, Urbanek K, Hintze TH, Kajstura J,
Anversa P. Identification of a coronary vascular progenitor cell in the human heart. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA;
2009 Sep 15;106(37):15885–90. Epub 2009 Aug 27.
2.
D’Alessandro DA, Kajstura J, Hosoda T, Gatti A, Bello R, Mosna F, Bardelli S, Zheng H, D’Amario D,
Padin-Iruegas ME, Carvalho AB, Rota M, Zembala MO, Stern D, Rimoldi O, Urbanek K, Michler RE, Leri A,
Anversa P. Progenitor cells from the explanted heart generate immunocompatible myocardium within the
transplanted donor heart. Circ. Res.; 2009 Nov 20;105(11):1128–40. Epub 2009 Oct 8.
3. Zembala M, Michler RE, Rynkiewicz A, Huynh T, She L, Lubiszewska B, Hill JA, Jandova R, Dagenais F,
Peterson ED, Jones RH. Clinical characteristics of patients undergoing surgical ventricular reconstruction by
choice and by randomization. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol.; 2010 Aug 3;56(6):499–507.
4. Rouleau JL, Michler RE, Velazquez EJ, Oh JK, O’Connor CM, Desvigne-Nickens P, Sopko G, Lee KL, Jones
RH. The STICH trial: Evidence-based conclusions. Eur. J. Heart Fail.; 2010 Oct;12(10):1028–30.
5.
Smith PK, Michler RE, Woo YJ, Alexander JH, Puskas JD, Parides MK, Hahn RT, Williams JB, Dent JM,
Ferguson TB Jr, Moquete E, Rose EA, Pagé P, Jeffries NO, O’Gara PT, Ascheim DD. Design, rationale, and
initiation of the Surgical Interventions for Moderate Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation Trial: A report from the
Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg.; 2012 Jan;143(1):111–117.e.1.
Epub 2011 Jul 23.