We are proud to announce Lihua Lou, PhD at Florida International University as our "Early Career Stop Heart Disease" Researcher of the Year! Lihua will be presented with this prestigious award in the amount of $50,000 at this year's Annual Meeting of the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology which will be held in Orlando, August 4-6, 2023 at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort.
Dr. Lihua Lou is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Florida International University and works in Dr. Arvind Agarwal’s laboratory on biomechanics, nanocomposites, nanofiber-based drug delivery systems and functional cardiac patches to promote tissue regeneration. She has actively served as a mentor for the NSF REU program and part-time undergraduate researchers. She is a gifted laboratory researcher with a keen sense of scientific rigor, as observed from her publication record. Her research has appeared in many well-regarded journals, including ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Carbon, Advanced Materials Technologies, Nanoscale, and Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine. This is highly impressive as these publications are some of the most prestigious in the field and exercise rigorous peer review standards. She is a highly regarded and incredibly effective researcher whose work has made a significant impact. Briefly, she has published 36 journal papers and 2 issued patents and has 4 manuscripts in preparation and 3 pending patent applications. Her research interests include cardiac tissue engineering, nanomaterials, biomechanics, soft matter viscoelasticity, digital image processing and functional nanofiber composites. Additionally, she received an NSF I-corps grant as an independent investigator. Her passion for contributing meaningfully to scientific development continues to be her driving motivation.
Lihua is a dedicated early career postdoctoral researcher with an excellent multidisciplinary research background. She received her PhD in environmental toxicology from Texas Tech University in 2019 and her MSc in textile materials and textile design from Donghua University in 2016. After earning her PhD, she has spent her time conducting pertinent material science research at both Virginia Commonwealth University and FIU. These experiences have served as the foundation for the strength of her contributions to cardiac biomechanics research.
Lihua plans to use the funds from this award to explore multiscale mechanical behaviors and model the structural and viscoelastic heterogenicity of myocardium. Specifically, advanced micro-indentation techniques will be employed to characterize the mechanical response of myocardial tissue across different length scales. The data, with the spatial information, will be employed for computational modeling. This research aims to enhance our understanding of the complex mechanical properties exhibited by cardiac tissue, which is crucial for advancements in cardiac bioengineering, the development of novel therapeutic interventions, and facilitating the understanding of pathological conditions affecting myocardial mechanics. A small portion of the funds will be used to increase her stipend to support Lihua’s career development and transition from a mentored investigator position to an independent research role.
Each year, in collaboration with the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, Florida Heart Research Foundation recognizes the "Stop Heart Disease Researcher of the Year". As of 2021, the now $50,000 grant is awarded to an "Early Career" investigator/researcher within the State of Florida whose research is felt to have had the broadest impact on the advancement of knowledge in the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of cardiovascular disease. To be considered for the award, the researcher must be nominated by a colleague, conduct research within, and be a resident of, Florida, be active in the arena of clinical and/or basic cardiovascular research and MUST be an early career investigator.
In 2003, we launched this program to inspire and promote excellence in cardiovascular research in the State of Florida known as the "Stop Heart Disease" Researcher of the Year Award. Miami Heart Research Institute/Florida Heart Research Foundation has been very fortunate to have achieved a close collaboration with the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, an extremely important partnership in the fight against heart disease.
Previous awards have inspired important progress in the critical areas of recognition and treatment of cardiovascular disease in diabetics, as well as in the role of gene variants in the therapy for congestive heart failure. Dr. Lihua Lou joins this distinguished tradition with a clear vision of the role of research in improving people’s lives.