Jason R. Cook, MD, PhD, FACS, RPVI
Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of Surgery
Division of Vascular Surgery
Dr. Cook is a vascular surgeon-scientist with a long-term interest in translational research in vascular disorders including aortic aneurysms and blood clots to improve care of patients with complex arterial and venous disease. Dr. Cook's laboratory is focused on (1) identifying upstream events in thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm formation to improve therapeutic treatment options for affected patients and (2) refining treatment strategies for patients with deep venous thromboembolism to improve patient outcomes.
His background in biomedical sciences including cardiovascular physiology and genetics combined with his clinical practice of open and endovascular aortic surgery provides him a foundation to identify and investigate the fundamental gaps in our knowledge in both acquired and inherited vascular disorders including deep venous thromboembolism and aortic aneurysm pathogenesis.
- MD: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
- Residency: Vascular surgery, Barnes-Jewish Hospital - Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
- 2020-present, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society
- 2015-present, Society for Vascular Surgery
- 2015-present, Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society
- 2014-present, Alpha Omega Alpha
- 2022-present, Vascular Surgical Council on Resident Education associate editor
- 2021-present, UNMC general surgery residency program clinical competency committee
- 2020-present, UNMC vascular surgery fellowship program clinical competency committee
Aortic aneurysm formation, progression and treatment is a focus of both Dr. Cook's clinical and research practices as a practicing vascular surgeon-scientist. He cares for patients with connective tissue syndromes as well as the more common infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms that are historically associated with atherosclerosis and smoking.
His previous work has aimed to understand the role of inflammation in abdominal aortic aneurysms and the pathophysiology and treatment of cardiovascular disease in patients with Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder secondary to mutations in the extracellular matrix protein Fibrillin-1. Marfan syndrome is the prototypical aortopathy characterized by thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissection. There are many similarities between thoracic aortic aneurysms and abdominal aortic aneurysms including the role of hemodynamic stress and inflammation in disease progression.
Additionally, his lab has developed an interest in management of deep venous thromboembolism patients who also suffer debilitating blood clots associated with inflammatory cell infiltration. The lab is focused on better delineating the distinct role of inflammation and endothelial cell dysfunction in aneurysm formation and progression as well as identifying markers to improve long-term care of patients with blood clots.