Flora Sam, MD
Professor, Medicine
Biography
Dr. Sam is the present Director, ad interim, of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute. She is an advanced heart failure clinical cardiologist and a physician-scientist. She is a translational researcher and the PI of her NIH funded lab. She is an expert in cardiac myocyte biology and in mechanisms of myocardial remodeling in cardiomyopathy, both in humans and animal models. She is a recognized expert in “heart failure with preserved ejection fraction” (HFpEF) /diastolic heart failure and “heart failure with reduced ejection fraction” (HFrEF)/systolic heart failure and cardiomyopathies.
The Sam lab is focused on three major areas of investigation:
1) Pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic mechanisms that mediate cardiac remodeling in heart failure, cardiac hypertrophy and hypertension.
2) Investigating the relationship between matrix markers and heart failure in humans with cardiac amyloid and scleroderma.
3) Investigating cross talk between adipocyte-derived factors, myokines and cardiokines in heart failure.
Other Positions
- Member, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Websites
Education
- University of the Witwatersrand, MD
Publications
- Published on 7/16/2020
Valero-Muñoz M, Wilson RM, Bretón-Romero R, Croteau D, Seldin DC, Sam F. Doxycycline decreases amyloidogenic light chain-induced autophagy in isolated primary cardiac myocytes. Int J Cardiol. 2020 Dec 15; 321:133-136. PMID: 32682005.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/23/2020
Shah SJ, Borlaug BA, Kitzman DW, McCulloch AD, Blaxall BC, Agarwal R, Chirinos JA, Collins S, Deo RC, Gladwin MT, Granzier H, Hummel SL, Kass DA, Redfield MM, Sam F, Wang TJ, Desvigne-Nickens P, Adhikari BB. Research Priorities for Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group Summary. Circulation. 2020 Mar 24; 141(12):1001-1026. PMID: 32202936.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/24/2019
Butt SA, Jeppesen JL, Torp-Pedersen C, Sam F, Gislason GH, Jacobsen S, Andersson C. Cardiovascular Manifestations of Systemic Sclerosis: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study. J Am Heart Assoc. 2019 09 03; 8(17):e013405. PMID: 31446827.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/2/2019
Oh A, Okazaki R, Sam F, Valero-Muñoz M. Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction and Adipose Tissue: A Story of Two Tales. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2019; 6:110. PMID: 31428620.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/12/2019
Tahir UA, Doros G, Kim JS, Connors LH, Seldin DC, Sam F. Predictors of Mortality in Light Chain Cardiac Amyloidosis with Heart Failure. Sci Rep. 2019 06 12; 9(1):8552. PMID: 31189919.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/9/2019
Yunis A, Doros G, Luptak I, Connors LH, Sam F. Use of Ventilatory Efficiency Slope as a Marker for Increased Mortality in Wild-Type Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis. Am J Cardiol. 2019 07 01; 124(1):122-130. PMID: 31053293.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/1/2018
Valero-Muñoz M, Sam F. Reply: Diet-Induced Obesity HFpEF Murine Models. JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2018 Feb; 3(1):158-159. PMID: 30062201.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/16/2018
Hulsmans M, Sager HB, Roh JD, Valero-Muñoz M, Houstis NE, Iwamoto Y, Sun Y, Wilson RM, Wojtkiewicz G, Tricot B, Osborne MT, Hung J, Vinegoni C, Naxerova K, Sosnovik DE, Zile MR, Bradshaw AD, Liao R, Tawakol A, Weissleder R, Rosenzweig A, Swirski FK, Sam F, Nahrendorf M. Cardiac macrophages promote diastolic dysfunction. J Exp Med. 2018 02 05; 215(2):423-440. PMID: 29339450.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/25/2017
Pimental DR, Sam F. Is Protein Kinase C Inhibition the Tip of the Iceberg in New Therapeutics for Acutely Decompensated Heart Failure? JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2017 Dec; 2(6):684-687. PMID: 30069551.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/25/2017
Valero-Muñoz M, Backman W, Sam F. Murine Models of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: a "Fishing Expedition". JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2017 Dec; 2(6):770-789. PMID: 29333506.
Read at: PubMed
View 61 more publications: View full profile at BUMC