This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers who will be honored at a ceremony for UNMC’s 2016 Scientist Laureate, Research Leadership, Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator Award recipients.
The New Investigator Award
New Investigator Awards go to outstanding UNMC scientists who in the past two years have secured their first funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense or other national sources.
New Investigators also had to demonstrate scholarly activity such as publishing their research and/or presenting their findings at national conventions.
- Name: Hanjun Wang, M.D.
- Title: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine
- Joined UNMC: 2007
- Hometown: Jiangsu, China
Research focus:
Cardiovascular diseases
The goal of my research is to understand how somatic/visceral sensory afferents (a long process that carries nerve impulses from sensory receptors toward the central nervous system) control cardiovascular function in normal and disease states. One of my past projects focused on the role of skeletal muscle afferents in mediating the exaggerated sympatho-excitation and exercise intolerance in chronic heart failure (CHF). Another of my major projects focused on the role of cardiac sympathetic afferents in mediating cardiac structural and functional remodeling following myocardial infarction. My lab was the first to elucidate that peripheral skeletal muscle mechanical (but not metabolic) afferent sensitization is a major contributor to the genesis of exaggerated sympatho-excitation during exercise in CHF. Recently we had demonstrated a novel therapeutic concept for the treatment of CHF and hypertension through chemical cardiac sympathetic afferent desensitization with the drug resiniferatoxin.
My research will make a difference because we have a very special interest in the role of sensory/visceral nerves in modulating cardiovascular activity in various cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure and hypertension. The potential contribution of sensory dysfunction to the development of these diseases has been largely ignored in this field. My research tries to provide more mechanistic understanding how sensory dysfunction causes or contributes to the further development of various cardiovascular diseases.
The best advice I’ve ever been given is:
The great ideologist Confucius had a prominent saying: Knowing a thing is not as good as liking it, while enjoying it ranks the best.
Three things you may not know about me
- I love fishing and playing chess.
- My Chinese zodiac sign is monkey. My great grandfather, grandfather and father are the same!
- I like to watch all kinds of sports but do very little by myself.
I am so glad to see a Chinese professor at UNMC's homepage! Wonderful!