Yajaira Suárez, PhD, deputy chair and Anthony N. Brady Professor of Comparative Medicine at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), has won the Judah Folkman Award in Vascular Biology from the North American Vascular Biology Organization (NAVBO). Suárez received the award—which recognizes outstanding contributions from vascular biologists at the mid-career stage—at NAVBO’s annual meeting, where she also presented the Folkman Award Lecture.
The Suárez lab combines molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, and experimental models to investigate the mechanisms that regulate endothelial cell and macrophage functions. Both cell types are involved in blood vessel formation and inflammation and are linked to conditions such as atherosclerosis, cancer, obesity, and wound healing.
“Her studies of microRNAs in regulating endothelial angiogenic and inflammatory activation during post-natal angiogenesis are credited with opening a new area of investigation in vascular cell biology, thus having a profound scientific impact,” NAVBO said in the award announcement.
Suárez joined the YSM faculty in 2013. She is a member of the Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program, Yale Center for Molecular and Systems Metabolism, and Yale Cancer Center.