Affiliation: Saint Louis University School of Medicine

Dr. Vincenza Cifarelli, PhD, is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She obtained her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied the role of hyperglycemia-induced inflammation in the endothelium in Type 1 Diabetes. She then joined the laboratory of Dr. Nada Abumrad at Washington University School of Medicine as an NIH T32 postdoctoral scholar to study the role of lipids in endothelial inflammation via receptor CD36. Her multidisciplinary research program addresses the role of vascular and lymphatic endothelium in tissue remodeling, inflammation, and metabolic health. Her studies, conducted in rodent models of obesity and people with metabolically healthy and unhealthy obesity, and women with Lipedema, aim to provide a plausible original therapeutic strategy for treating obesity by targeting the vascular and lymphatic endothelium, which recent studies indicate to be an important regulator of body fat distribution, inflammation, and metabolic outcome.