Mary Cushman | |
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| Academic background | |
| Education | BS, Biology, 1985, University of Vermont MD, 1989, Robert Larner College of Medicine MSc, Epidemiology, 1996, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Vermont |
Mary Cushman is an American vascular hematologist. She is a Full professor of Medicine and Pathology in the Robert Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.
Cushman grew up in western Massachusetts where she was encouraged by her mother to pursue "an easier,more traditional life and not have to work so hard." In spite of this,she enrolled at the University of Vermont,a school she described as "very progressive," and sought after a medical degree. [1] Cushman earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Vermont in 1985 before enrolling at their Robert Larner College of Medicine for her medical degree. Upon earning her MD,Cushman earned a research fellowship in Hematology at the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen Health Care. [2] During her fellowship,she intended to study breast cancer but soon became interested in the hematology consult service. [3] She eventually received her medical degree in 1989 and pursued a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. [2]
After completing her fellowship,Cushman joined the faculty at the University of Vermont College of Medicine (UVM) in 1996. [4] In her first year at the college,she received a grant from the American Heart Association's (AHA) former New Hampshire/Vermont Affiliate and volunteered with their organization at both local and national levels. [5] Beginning in 2004,Cushman sat on the editorial board for the journal Archives of Internal Medicine and was later promoted to the rank of Associate Editor for the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis (JTH) in 2007. [6] While serving in these roles,Cushman published evidence that there was an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) with postmenopausal hormone therapy based on preliminary data from two Women's Health Initiative trials. [7] She also focused on disproving racial and geographical differences in blood clotting and stroke risks. In a co-authored study published in the Annals of Neurology, she concluded that increased stroke mortality rates could not be directly and solely linked to traditional risk factors and external stressors such as poverty and access to care need to be considered. [8] As a result of her research,she was appointed the director of the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program at the University of Vermont Medical Group at Fletcher Allen,during which she advocated awareness of deep vein thrombosis, [9] and won the 2009 Distinguished Academic Achievement Award. [6]
Following the 2009–10 academic year,Cushman left the Archives of Internal Medicine and became a Senior Guest Editor for the journal Circulation. [6] In 2013,she was recognized by UVM as a "leading expert in cardiovascular disease epidemiology" and received their Senior Researcher of the Year award. [10] She was also appointed to the American Heart Association National Board of Directors [5] and published a new study that found making small lifestyle changes could reduce people's overall risk of having a stroke. [11] The following year,Cushman collaborated with postdoctoral fellow Kristine Alexander to study the link between blood type AB and memory loss. In a study published in the journal Neurology,they found that people with AB blood were more likely to develop thinking and memory problems such as dementia compared to those with other blood types. [12] That same year,she co-authored a study with medical student Sarah Gillett that found a link between cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive impairment. [13] In 2015,while attending a presentation by CEO Joe Golding,Cushman examined the businessman after he began to feel ill and discovered early-stage lymphoma in his leg. As a thank you gift for saving his life,Golding donated $25,000 to UVM for a research project led by Cushman. [14]
On January 10,2017,Cushman was appointed the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis's open access journal,Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (RPTH). [15] The following year,she was recognized by Clarivate as one of the top highly cited researchers in her field [16] and received the AHA's Population Research Prize for "important studies of cardiovascular disease patterns in populations." [17] In 2019,she was again recognized as one of the top highly cited researchers in her field [18] and joined the AHA's Eastern States Board of Directors. [19] In 2020,she earned the AHA's Award of Meritorious Achievement for encouraging women to join STEM fields. [1]
Homocysteine or Hcy:is a non-proteinogenic α-amino acid. It is a homologue of the amino acid cysteine,differing by an additional methylene bridge (-CH2-). It is biosynthesized from methionine by the removal of its terminal Cε methyl group. In the body,homocysteine can be recycled into methionine or converted into cysteine with the aid of vitamin B6,B9,and B12.
Anticoagulants,commonly known as blood thinners,are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood,prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes,where they help keep the bite area unclotted long enough for the animal to obtain some blood. As a class of medications,anticoagulants are used in therapy for thrombotic disorders. Oral anticoagulants (OACs) are taken by many people in pill or tablet form,and various intravenous anticoagulant dosage forms are used in hospitals. Some anticoagulants are used in medical equipment,such as sample tubes,blood transfusion bags,heart–lung machines,and dialysis equipment. One of the first anticoagulants,warfarin,was initially approved as a rodenticide.
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel,obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured,the body uses platelets (thrombocytes) and fibrin to form a blood clot to prevent blood loss. Even when a blood vessel is not injured,blood clots may form in the body under certain conditions. A clot,or a piece of the clot,that breaks free and begins to travel around the body is known as an embolus.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a type of venous thrombosis involving the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein,most commonly in the legs or pelvis. A minority of DVTs occur in the arms. Symptoms can include pain,swelling,redness,and enlarged veins in the affected area,but some DVTs have no symptoms. The most common life-threatening concern with DVT is the potential for a clot to embolize,travel as an embolus through the right side of the heart,and become lodged in a pulmonary artery that supplies blood to the lungs. This is called a pulmonary embolism (PE). DVT and PE comprise the cardiovascular disease of venous thromboembolism (VTE). About two-thirds of VTE manifests as DVT only,with one-third manifesting as PE with or without DVT. The most frequent long-term DVT complication is post-thrombotic syndrome,which can cause pain,swelling,a sensation of heaviness,itching,and in severe cases,ulcers. Recurrent VTE occurs in about 30% of those in the ten years following an initial VTE.
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research,educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. Originally formed in New York City in 1915,it is currently headquartered in Dallas,Texas. The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency.
Angiology is the medical specialty dedicated to studying the circulatory system and of the lymphatic system,i.e.,arteries,veins and lymphatic vessels.
ADAMTS13 —also known as von Willebrand factor-cleaving protease (VWFCP)—is a zinc-containing metalloprotease enzyme that cleaves von Willebrand factor (vWf),a large protein involved in blood clotting. It is secreted into the blood and degrades large vWf multimers,decreasing their activity.
Vascular disease is a class of diseases of the vessels of the circulatory system in the body,including blood vessels –the arteries and veins,and the lymphatic vessels. Vascular disease is a subgroup of cardiovascular disease. Disorders in this vast network of blood and lymph vessels can cause a range of health problems that can sometimes become severe,and fatal. Coronary heart disease for example,is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.
Dabigatran,sold under the brand name Pradaxa among others,is an anticoagulant used to treat and prevent blood clots and to prevent stroke in people with atrial fibrillation. Specifically it is used to prevent blood clots following hip or knee replacement and in those with a history of prior clots. It is used as an alternative to warfarin and does not require monitoring by blood tests. In a meta analysis of 7 different studies,there was no benefit of dabigatran over warfarin in preventing ischemic stroke;however,dabigatran were associated with a lower hazard for intracranial bleeding compared with warfarin,but also had a higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding relative to warfarin. It is taken by mouth.
Jonathan L. Halperin is an American cardiologist and the author of Bypass (ISBN 0-89586-509-2),among the most comprehensive works on the subject of coronary artery bypass surgery. In addition,he is the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor of Medicine at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine as well as Director of Clinical Cardiology in the Zena and Michael A. Wierner Cardiovascular Institute at The Mount Sinai Medical Center,both in New York City. Halperin was the principal cardiologist responsible for both the design and execution of the multi-center Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation (SPAF) clinical trials,funded by the National Institutes of Health,which helped develop antithrombotic strategies to prevent stroke,and he subsequently directed the SPORTIF clinical trials,which evaluated the first oral direct thrombin inhibitor for prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Gundu Hirisave Rama Rao was born in Tumkur (Karnataka),India,on 23 August 1937. He is a scientist,entrepreneur and Emeritus Professor at the Academic Health Center,University of Minnesota. He and Professor John Eaton visited India in 1981 under a National Science Foundation sponsorship,to explore opportunities for collaborative research projects. They visited medical institutions from Kashmir in the north to Trivandrum in the south. He again visited India during 1990–93,as a professor and a senior consultant for the government of India under a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) called TOKTEN sponsored by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He is a member of the Minneapolis University Rotary ClubArchived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. He is listed as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in the Roster. He is an active member of Rotary E-Club,RI.3190,Bangalore,India.
Stanley Heptinstall is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Nottingham,Director of Platelet Solutions Ltd,and local government councillor on Nottinghamshire County Council.
Beverley Jane Hunt is professor of thrombosis and haemostasis at King's College,London,consultant in the departments of haematology,rheumatology and pathology and director of the Haemostasis Research Unit at Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation Trust,medical director of Thrombosis UK and previous president of Walthamstow Hall Old Girls Association. She was educated at Walthamstow Hall and University of Liverpool.
Denisa D. Wagner is an American scientist currently the Edwin Cohn Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH),Harvard Medical School. Wagner first arrived in the United States in 1975 as a refugee from Czechoslovakia. She received her PhD in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught at the University of Rochester and Tufts University before joining the Harvard faculty in 1994.The Wagner Lab contributes in the fields of vascular biology,inflammation,and thrombosis. Her Lab focuses on how blood cells and endothelial cells respond to vascular injury. Also her lab has been studying NETs for more than a decade. In 2015,research from the lab shed light on healing wounds in patients with diabetes. In the same year she received the Robert P. Grant Medal,which is the highest award of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH).
Jerrold H. Levy is an American critical care physician and cardiac anesthesiologist at Duke University Medical Center who currently serves as the Co-Director of Duke's Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit. He is most noted for his research in surgical hemostasis,coagulopathy in the critically ill,shock,anaphylaxis,and developing purified and recombinant therapeutic approaches to treat bleeding. He has authored over 400 publications,including scientific manuscripts,review articles,editorials,books,and book chapters. Additionally,he has authored a number of websites aimed at providing medical information to healthcare professionals through his website,DocMD.
In the contact activation system or CAS,three proteins in the blood,factor XII (FXII),prekallikrein (PK) and high molecular weight kininogen (HK),bind to a surface and cause blood coagulation and inflammation. FXII and PK are proteases and HK is a non-enzymatic co-factor. The CAS can activate the kinin–kallikrein system and blood coagulation through its ability to activate multiple downstream proteins. The CAS is initiated when FXII binds to a surface and reciprocal activation of FXII and PK occurs,forming FXIIa and PKa. FXIIa can initiate the coagulation cascade by cleaving and activating factor XI (FXI),which leads to formation of a blood clot. Additionally,the CAS can activate the kinin–kallikrein system when PKa cleaves HK to form cHK,releasing a peptide known as bradykinin (BK). BK and its derivatives bind to bradykinin receptors B1 and B2 to mediate inflammation.
Erin Kathleen Donnelly Michos is an American cardiologist. She is an associate professor of Medicine and Director of Women's Cardiovascular Health at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Michos is also an Associate Faculty of the Welch Center for Prevention,Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins,and has a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Russell Peter Tracy is an American epidemiological scientist and pathologist. He is a University Distinguished Professor of Pathology,Laboratory Medicine and Biochemistry at the Robert Larner College of Medicine,University of Vermont.
Michelle Asha Albert is an American physician who is the Walter A. Haas Lucie-Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and professor of medicine at the University of California,San Francisco. Albert is director of the UCSF Center for the Study of Adversity and Cardiovascular Disease. She is president of the American Heart Association. She served as the president of the Association of Black Cardiologists in 2020–2022 and as president of the Association of University Cardiologists (2021–2022). Albert is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Society of Clinical Investigators.
Marie Claire McLintock was a New Zealand haematologist and obstetric physician. She was an expert in medical conditions and disorders related to bleeding and blood clotting,and medical problems associated with pregnancy.
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