About

My aspiration to become a physician-scientist stems from my desire to care for patients with cardiovascular diseases and my passion for biomedical research. I have frequently encountered patients with end-stage heart failure who were not candidates for heart transplantation and continued to decline clinically despite receiving standard medical therapies. The physical and emotional toll on these patients and their families, along with the significant socioeconomic burden, was immense. These experiences inspired me to study the mechanisms of heart failure, with the goal of identifying new therapeutic targets and interventions. As a physician and junior faculty in the Division of Cardiology and the Mitochondrial Metabolism Center, I am committed to translating my research findings into clinical applications that improve patient outcomes, while mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists to advance the field of cardiovascular medicine.

My research focuses on the intersection of immunometabolism and heart failure, particularly how mitochondrial dysfunction drives inflammation in disease. I explore how extracellular mitochondria, actively released from cells as mitochondrial extracellular vesicles (MitoEVs) or free mitochondria, contribute to immune activation and disease progression. A key aspect of my work is investigating therapeutic strategies, such as boosting nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) through precursors like nicotinamide riboside (NR), to improve mitochondrial function, reduce inflammation, and slow heart failure progression.

Please visit my lab website for more information.

Honors & Awards

2003          Graduation with Distinction in General Scholarship (Cum Laude), University of California, Berkeley
2004          NIH Funding Position for the Medical Scientist Training Program at University of California, Irvine – given to top student of every MSTP class
2005          Dr. Grace Bell Award for Molecular Biology, UC Irvine
2006          NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT). LifeChips, UC Irvine – Full Scholarship for 2 years.
2009          Orange County Achievement Rewards for College Scientist (ARCS) Foundation Scholarship
2012          Jane Hill Cancer Research Scholarship
2012          External Rotation Scholarship, UC Irvine School of Medicine
2013          Graduation with Distinction in Research, UC Irvine School of Medicine
2019          Bruce-Laughlin Cardiovascular Research Fellowship (2019-2020) – University of Washington
2020          Grace Marie Kaylor Endowed Award (2020) – Division of Cardiology, University of Washington
2022          UW Department of Anesthesia Academic Evening Poster Competition: 3rd Place
2024          AHA BCVS ACRE-ACS Symposium Oral Presentation Junior Faculty Award: 2nd Place

Education

Wang DD, Naumova AV, Isquith D, Sapp J, Huynh KA, Tucker I, Balu N, Voronyuk A, Chu B, Ordovas K, Maynard C, Tian R, Zhao XQ, Kim F.Dapagliflozin reduces systemic inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes without known heart failure. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2024 Jun 7;23(1):197. doi: 10.1186/s12933-024-02294-z. PubMed PMID: 38849829; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11161924.

Wang DD, Airhart SE, Zhou B, Shireman LM, Jiang S, Melendez Rodriguez C, Kirkpatrick JN, Shen DD, Tian R, O’Brien KD. Safety and Tolerability of Nicotinamide Riboside in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction. JACC Basic Transl Sci. 2022 Dec;7(12):1183-1196. doi: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2022.06.012. eCollection 2022 Dec. PubMed PMID: 36644285; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9831861.

Zhou B, Wang DD, Qiu Y, Airhart S, Liu Y, Stempien-Otero A, O’Brien KD, Tian R. Boosting NAD level suppresses inflammatory activation of PBMCs in heart failure. J Clin Invest. 2020 Nov 2;130(11):6054-6063. doi: 10.1172/JCI138538. PubMed PMID: 32790648; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7598081.