Victoria L.M. Herrera, MD
Professor, Medicine
Biography
Victoria Herrera, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Associate Director for Medicine at BU Nanotechnology Innovation Center. Dr. Herrera is a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine – magna cum laude, and former Visiting International Fellow at Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She completed Pediatrics Residencey at Univerfity of Massachusetts Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology and Molecular Cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Hypertension Molecular Genetics at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Herrera serves as reviewer for Journals and for the NIH: former CVB Cardiovascular Study Section member, Hypertension Study Section, and current ad hoc reviewer for Cancer BioTherapeutics and Development SBIR Study Section. Dr. Herrera is co-inventor in multiple patents on novel targeted therapies for cancer and stroke, and nanodelivery systems.
As an NIH physician scientist awardee, research interests focus on the understanding of molecular bases of complex diseases via translational research coupled with animal modeling that recapitulate complex disease phenotypes respectively with spontaneous progression to end-organ disease and comorbidities. These animal modeling insights provide novel approaches to identification and testing of novel therapeutic and/or theranostic paradigms prioritized for their respective potentials to become clinically relevant game changers. Research expertise span the integration of basic and clinical sciences, translation of nanotechnologies into nanomedicines, and the design of clinically relevant preclinical and translational efficacy and safety studies relevant to novel approaches for ARDS, Covid19-ARDS, stroke, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, Dr. Herrera served as the founding scientific advisor to the Philippine General Hospital Child Protection Unity and the Child Protection Network in the Philippines.
Other Positions
- Member, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Education
- University of the Philippines, MD
- University of the Philippines, BS
Publications
- Published on 4/18/2023
Herrera VLM, Bosch NA, Lok JJ, Nguyen MQ, Lenae KA, deKay JT, Ryzhov SV, Seder DB, Ruiz-Opazo N, Walkey AJ. Circulating neutrophil extracellular trap (NET)-forming 'rogue' neutrophil subset, immunotype [DEspR?+?CD11b?+], mediate multi-organ failure in COVID-19-an observational study. Transl Med Commun. 2023; 8(1):12. PMID: 37096233.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/15/2023
Herrera VLM, Gromisch CM, Decano JL, Pasion KA, Tan GLA, Hua N, Takahashi CE, Greer DM, Ruiz-Opazo N. Anti-DEspR antibody treatment improves survival and reduces neurologic deficits in a hypertensive, spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (hsICH) rat model. Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 15; 13(1):2703. PMID: 36792616.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/1/2023
Herrera VLM, Bosch NA, Lok JJ, Nguyen MQ, Lenae KA, deKay JT, Ryzhov SV, Seder DB, Ruiz-Opazo N, Walkey AJ. Circulating neutrophil extracellular trap (NET)-forming 'rogue' neutrophil subset, immunotype [DEspR+CD11b+], mediate multi-organ failure in COVID-19 - an observational study. Res Sq. 2023 Feb 01. PMID: 36778407.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/7/2022
Whitaker RD, Decano JL, Gormley C, Beigie CA, Meisel C, Tan GA, Moran AM, Giordano NJ, Park Y, Huang P, Andersson S, Gantz D, Grant AK, Ruiz-Opazo N, Herrera VLM, Wong JY. Janus USPION modular platform (JUMP) for theranostic ultrasound-mediated targeted intratumoral microvascular imaging and DNA/miRNA delivery. Theranostics. 2022; 12(18):7646-7667. PMID: 36451861.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/4/2022
Carstensen S, Müller M, Tan GLA, Pasion KA, Hohlfeld JM, Herrera VLM, Ruiz-Opazo N. "Rogue" neutrophil-subset [DEspR+CD11b+/CD66b+] immunotype is an actionable therapeutic target for neutrophilic inflammation-mediated tissue injury - studies in human, macaque and rat LPS-inflammation models. Front Immunol. 2022; 13:1008390. PMID: 36275710.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/25/2022
Herrera VLM, Takahashi CE, Nguyen MQ, Mosaddeghi JZ, Denis R, Greer DM, Ruiz-Opazo N. "Rogue" [DEspR+CD11b+] neutrophil subset correlates with severity in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Front Neurol. 2022; 13:935579. PMID: 35959408.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/4/2022
Herrera VLM, Walkey AJ, Nguyen MQ, Gromisch CM, Mosaddhegi JZ, Gromisch MS, Jundi B, Lukassen S, Carstensen S, Denis R, Belkina AC, Baron RM, Pinilla-Vera M, Mueller M, Kimberly WT, Goldstein JN, Lehmann I, Shih AR, Eils R, Levy BD, Ruiz-Opazo N. A targetable 'rogue' neutrophil-subset, [CD11b+DEspR+] immunotype, is associated with severity and mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and COVID-19-ARDS. Sci Rep. 2022 Apr 04; 12(1):5583. PMID: 35379853.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/17/2021
deKay JT, Emery IF, Rud J, Eldridge A, Lord C, Gagnon DJ, May TL, Herrera VLM, Ruiz-Opazo N, Riker RR, Sawyer DB, Ryzhov S, Seder DB. DEspRhigh neutrophils are associated with critical illness in COVID-19. Sci Rep. 2021 11 17; 11(1):22463. PMID: 34789851.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/13/2021
Herrera VLM, Walkey AJ, Nguyen MQ, Gromisch CM, Mosaddhegi JZ, Gromisch MS, Jundi B, Lukassen S, Carstensen S, Denis R, Belkina AC, Baron RM, Pinilla-Vera M, Muller M, Kimberly WT, Goldstein JN, Lehmann I, Shih AR, Eils R, Levy BD, Ruiz-Opazo N. Increased Neutrophil-Subset Associated With Severity/Mortality In ARDS And COVID19-ARDS Expresses The Dual Endothelin-1/VEGFsignal-Peptide Receptor (DEspR): An Actionable Therapeutic Target. Res Sq. 2021 Sep 13. PMID: 34545358.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/14/2021
Gromisch CM, Tan GLA, Pasion KA, Moran AM, Gromisch MS, Grinstaff MW, Carr FJ, Herrera VLM, Ruiz-Opazo N. Humanized anti-DEspR IgG4S228P antibody increases overall survival in a pancreatic cancer stem cell-xenograft peritoneal carcinomatosis ratnu/nu model. BMC Cancer. 2021 Apr 14; 21(1):407. PMID: 33853558.
Read at: PubMed
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