Michael Simons

Biography

Dr. Simons is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at the New England Medical Center in Boston and cardiology training at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He completed a postdoctoral fellowships in molecular cardiology at National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda and in vascular biology at MIT. In 1993 he joined faculty at Harvard Medical School as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and rose through the ranks to become an Associate Professor of Medicine, Director of the Morse Coronary Care Unit and Director of Angiogenesis Research Center. In 2001 he was recruited to Dartmouth as AG Huber Professor of Medicine and Chief of Cardiology, subsequently becoming Director of Dartmouth Cardiovascular Center.  Dr. Simons’ research focuses on biology of arterial vasculature and spans basic, translational and clinical areas of investigations. He led the first trials of therapeutic angiogenesis in the USA and his basic research discoveries have played an important role in moving the field forward. Dr. Simons has an extensive track record of NIH funding including multiple R01s and he has served as a Principal Investigator of the NHLBI SCOR program in endothelial biology. Recently, he has been awarded a Leducq Transatlantic network grant to build and lead the ARTEMIS arteriogenesis network composed of investigators in USA, UK, Belgium and France. Dr. Simons also leads an NHLBI PPG program focused on arteriogenessi. He has published over 270 research papers and reviews and has been elected to a number of honorary societies including Association of American Physicians, American Society of Clinical Investigations and Association of University Cardiologists. He also a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Physiology. Dr. Simons is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at the New England Medical Center in Boston and cardiology training at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He completed a postdoctoral fellowships in molecular cardiology at National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda and in vascular biology at MIT. In 1993 he joined faculty at Harvard Medical School as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and rose through the ranks to become an Associate Professor of Medicine, Director of the Morse Coronary Care Unit and Director of Angiogenesis Research Center. In 2001 he was recruited to Dartmouth as AG Huber Professor of Medicine and Chief of Cardiology, subsequently becoming Director of Dartmouth Cardiovascular Center.  Dr. Simons’ research focuses on biology of arterial vasculature and spans basic, translational and clinical areas of investigations. He led the first trials of therapeutic angiogenesis in the USA and his basic research discoveries have played an important role in moving the field forward. Dr. Simons has an extensive track record of NIH funding including multiple R01s and he has served as a Principal Investigator of the NHLBI SCOR program in endothelial biology. Recently, he has been awarded a Leducq Transatlantic network grant to build and lead the ARTEMIS arteriogenesis network composed of investigators in USA, UK, Belgium and France. Dr. Simons also leads an NHLBI PPG program focused on arteriogenessi. He has published over 270 research papers and reviews and has been elected to a number of honorary societies including Association of American Physicians, American Society of Clinical Investigations and Association of University Cardiologists. He also a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Physiology.

Research Interest

The major areas of research in my laboratory include the regulation of arterial development and branching morphogenesis, the regulation of vascular maintenance, Syndecan-4 signaling, and endothelial signaling and metabolism. Emerging areas of research include the role of Raf1 and MAPK signaling in regulation of arterial specification and the activation of arteriogenesis in arteriogenesis-resistant states.