A Comprehensive Platform for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research
The Cardiovascular Research Laboratory at the Kate Marmion School of Public Health provides investigators across the University of Texas at San Antonio with access to advanced, noninvasive technologies for comprehensive assessment of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, pulmonary, metabolic, and liver health. The laboratory was developed under the leadership of the School's Founding Dean, Vasan Ramachandran, MD, former Principal Investigator of the Framingham Heart Study, and reflects a model of integrated physiologic assessment designed to advance cardiovascular and population health research in South Texas.
The laboratory supports a broad range of clinical, translational, and population health research through detailed characterization of heart, blood vessel, brain, liver, and lung function. Its integrated platform combines state-of-the-art imaging, vascular assessment, physiologic monitoring, and exercise testing technologies to support collaborative research, clinical studies, and multidisciplinary investigations.
A distinguishing feature of the laboratory is its graduated stress-testing framework, which evaluates physiologic responses across a spectrum of conditions—from resting measurements and activities that mimic everyday challenges, to postural testing and maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing. This integrated multisystem phenotyping approach enables comprehensive characterization of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, autonomic, metabolic, and exercise physiology during a single study visit.
Integrated Multisystem Phenotyping
A unique feature of the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory is its ability to assess multiple physiologic systems within a single research visit. By combining cardiovascular imaging, vascular assessment, autonomic testing, cerebrovascular monitoring, exercise physiology, and liver health evaluation, investigators can obtain a comprehensive picture of health and disease using coordinated testing protocols.
Cardiovascular Research Lab
Areas Open for Collaborative Research
The Cardiovascular Research Laboratory welcomes collaborations with investigators across a wide range of clinical, translational, and population health disciplines, including cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology, neurology, hepatology, geriatrics, rehabilitation, and public health. Through its integrated cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, autonomic, metabolic, and exercise phenotyping platform, the laboratory supports collaborative research projects, clinical trials, pilot studies, training initiatives, and longitudinal cohort investigations.
Various integrated testing stations target distinct levels of physiologic challenge, enabling researchers and clinicians to characterize cardiovascular responses across a wide spectrum of daily activities and demands. The applications presented here are representative and not exhaustive. Investigators are encouraged to contact the laboratory to discuss customized phenotyping protocols.
♥ Comprehensive assessment of cardiac, vascular, endothelial, and cerebrovascular health. Applications include heart failure, vascular aging, subclinical cardiovascular disease, health disparities, and longitudinal cohort studies. | ⚖ Integrated evaluation of liver fibrosis and steatosis, cardiac function, exercise capacity, vascular health, and autonomic regulation to investigate obesity, diabetes, MASLD/MASH, insulin resistance, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). | ↕ Head-up tilt testing, beat-to-beat hemodynamic monitoring, and transcranial Doppler assessment support studies of POTS, orthostatic hypotension, vasovagal syncope, long COVID, chronic fatigue syndromes, and unexplained dizziness. |
🏃 Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides integrated assessment of cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic, and muscular responses to exercise. Applications include exercise intolerance and dyspnea evaluation, heart failure, obesity, healthy aging, rehabilitation, cancer survivorship, exercise interventions, and human performance research. | 🧠 Transcranial Doppler and vascular testing enable assessment of cerebral blood flow regulation, cerebrovascular reactivity, and vascular contributions to brain health. Applications include cognitive decline, dementia risk, cerebrovascular disease, concussion, migraine, autonomic dysfunction, and healthy brain aging. | ● FibroScan technology provides noninvasive assessment of liver stiffness, hepatic steatosis, and spleen stiffness. Applications include MASLD/MASH, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, portal hypertension risk stratification, diabetes, obesity, and liver–heart–metabolism research. |
🦵 ABI, arterial stiffness, endothelial function, and pulse-wave analysis support studies of peripheral artery disease, atherosclerosis, vascular aging, hypertension, microvascular dysfunction, and cardiovascular risk prediction. | 🌿 Integrated assessment of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, autonomic, vascular, metabolic, and exercise function supports studies of frailty, physiologic resilience, functional decline, physiologic reserve, healthy aging, and age-related disease progression. | 🔬 Standardized outcome measures support observational cohorts, intervention studies, device validation studies, behavioral trials, and longitudinal follow-up using reproducible protocols and coordinated testing workflows. |