Flora Sam MD
Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine
Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
88 E. Newton St | (617) 638-8060flora.sam@bmc.org
florasam@bu.edu
Sections
Cardiovascular Medicine
Centers
Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute
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.
Education
Medicine-Internal, MD, University of the Witwatersrand
Publications
Yu Z, Chen Y, Miranda O, Qi M, Zhang M, Feng N, Ryan TP, Schloot NC, Chen Y, Sam F, Wang L. Association of Long-Term Body Mass Index Variability With the Development of Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction and Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction Across Patterns of Weight Change. J Am Heart Assoc. 2025 Sep 16; 14(18):e039976. PMID: 40932106.
Published on 8/31/2025Borlaug BA, Testani JM, Petrie MC, Wang Z, Cunningham J, Adams KF, Amir O, Belohlávek J, Bocchi E, Freitas A, Hominal M, Kadokami T, Merkely B, Miller CA, Nuñez J, Verma S, Yilmaz MB, Oru E, Sam F. Effects of volenrelaxin in worsening heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a phase 2 randomized trial. Nat Med. 2025 Aug 31. PMID: 40887551.
Published on 5/13/2025Saw EL, Werner LD, Cooper HL, Pimental DR, Zamani P, Chirinos JA, Valero-Muñoz M, Sam F. Musclin Counteracts Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction and Exercise Intolerance in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction. Circ Heart Fail. 2025 Jun; 18(6):e012350. PMID: 40358602.
Published on 5/8/2025Valero-Muñoz M, Saw EL, Cooper H, Pimentel DR, Sam F. White Adipose Tissue in Obesity-Associated HFpEF: Insights From Mice and Humans. JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2025 Aug; 10(8):101262. PMID: 40338771.
Published on 4/6/2025Han S, Yu S, Shi M, Harada M, Ge J, Lin J, Prehn C, Petrera A, Li Y, Sam F, Matullo G, Adamski J, Suhre K, Gieger C, Hauck SM, Herder C, Roden M, Casale FP, Cai N, Peters A, Wang-Sattler R. LEOPARD: missing view completion for multi-timepoint omics data via representation disentanglement and temporal knowledge transfer. Nat Commun. 2025 Apr 06; 16(1):3278. PMID: 40188173.
Published on 12/20/2024Tham LS, Heerspink HJL, Wang X, Verdino P, Saifan CG, Benson EA, Goldsmith P, Wang Z, Testani JM, Haupt A, Sam F, Cherney DZI. Volenrelaxin (LY3540378) increases renal plasma flow: a randomized Phase 1 trial. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2024 Dec 20; 40(1):109-122. PMID: 38782726.
Published on 10/17/2023Valero-Muñoz M, Sam F. Endothelin-1: Is it Time to "Biomark" the Cardiac-Tumor-Treatment Nexus in Breast Cancer? JACC CardioOncol. 2023 Oct; 5(5):701-703. PMID: 37969651.
Published on 3/9/2023Ferdinand KC, Dunn J, Nicolay C, Sam F, Blue EK, Wang H. Weight-dependent and weight-independent effects of dulaglutide on blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2023 Mar 09; 22(1):49. PMID: 36894938.
Published on 1/23/2023El-Adili F, Lui JK, Najem M, Farina G, Trojanowska M, Sam F, Bujor AM. Correction: Periostin overexpression in scleroderma cardiac tissue and its utility as a marker for disease complications. Arthritis Res Ther. 2023 Jan 23; 25(1):11. PMID: 36691037.
Published on 12/1/2022Saw EL, Werner LD, Zamani P, Chirinos JA, Valero-Muñoz M, Sam F. Skeletal muscle phenotypic switching in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022; 9:1016452. PMID: 36531739.