David J. Lefer, PhD
Department of Medicine-Division of Cardiology
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, New York

Session Chair
Nitrite, Ischemia-reperfusion and Mitochondrial Respiration

Presentation Title
Nitrite Therapy for the Treatment of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury (Summary of Presentation)

Dr Lefer received his PhD from Wake Forest University in 1991, with a thesis entitled “Mechanisms of the Cardioprotective Effects of Nitric Oxide.” He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and later joined the faculty of Tulane University School of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology. Dr Lefer subsequently joined the faculty in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and the Division of Cardiology at LSU Health Sciences center and in 2004 he became a Full Professor of Physiology.  Dr Lefer then joined the Department of Medicine-Division of Cardiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York where he currently is a Professor of Medicine.

Dr Lefer has authored or co-authored more than 135 papers, primarily in the area of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. The work in his laboratory centers on understanding the cellular mechanisms responsible for myocardial cell death following coronary artery ischemia and reperfusion or during the pathogenesis of congestive heart failure.  Dr Lefer has a keen interest in myocardial reperfusion injury in the diabetic heart.  Much of Dr Lefer's research efforts have focused on the cardioprotective effects of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), nitric oxide (NO), NO generating agents, and nitrite.  Dr Lefer's research group was among the first to demonstrate the cardioprotective effects of nitric oxide in the setting of acute myocardial infarction.  Dr Lefer's lab is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association.