Contact Informaiton:

Office: 410 FH
Phone: 467-1732
Faculty Profile

Brief description of current research:

Dr. Stanhewicz’s research uses the human cutaneous circulation to understand how blood vessels function in health and disease. Her lab is particularly interested in understanding the mechanisms that control blood vessel function and how those mechanisms change in people who have cardiovascular or metabolic disease, and what the best intervention strategies are to prevent or reverse disease in these patients. Her recent focus is studying the mechanisms that contribute to vascular dysfunction in women who have had pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. Women who develop these complications during pregnancy are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease later in life despite the remission of symptoms shortly after delivery. Dr. Stanhewicz is working to understand the cellular mechanisms that are changed during these syndromes of pregnancy and to identify physiological and pharmacological interventions that treat these changes.

3 most influential diabetes/obesity/metabolism publications:

• Stanhewicz AE, Alexander LM. Local angiotensin-(1-7) administration improves microvascular endothelial function in women who have had preeclampsia. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2020;318(1):R148–R155.
• Stanhewicz AE, Jandu S, Santhanam L, Alexander LM. Alterations in endothelin type B receptor contribute to microvascular dysfunction in women who have had preeclampsia. Clin Sci (Lond). 2017;131(23):2777–2789.
• ​Stanhewicz AE, Jandu S, Santhanam L, Alexander LM. Increased Angiotensin II Sensitivity Contributes to Microvascular Dysfunction in Women Who Have Had Preeclampsia. Hypertension. 2017;70(2):382–389.

Quote:

I love my work because working with human research volunteers in the lab to create new knowledge that can directly benefit them is very rewarding.