Aflac Research Conference - Francesca Vinchi, PhD
Location: HSRB II - Rm N100, AMBH South Tower - Room 15132, and Zoom
Dr Vinchi will present her seminar entitled "A Journey Through the Study of Heme Toxicities in Sickle Cell Disease"
Dr. Vinchi received a Master Degree in Molecular Biotechnology, and a PhD in Biomedical Science and Human Oncology at the Molecular Biotechnology Center, University of Turin, Italy, and performed her postdoctoral studies on iron biology in the Iron Homeostasis Group of the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit of the University of Heidelberg & European Molecular Biology laboratory (EMBL), Germany, supported by two renown postdoctoral fellowships from Heidelberg Medical Faculty. Since 2018, Dr. Vinchi is the Head of the Iron Research Laboratory at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute (LFKRI) of the New York Blood Center, and Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York.
Dr. Vinchi’s expertise lies in the field of heme and iron metabolism, with a specific interest on the mechanisms underlying heme- and iron-driven oxidative stress, vascular dysfunction and inflammation in hematologic diseases. Her line of research is aimed at elucidating the impact of iron overload and deficiency on immune response, cardiovascular function, and disease severity in anemias (e.g. sickle cell disease, thalassemia, MDS) and iron-related disorders (hemochromatosis, iron deficiency anemia), with a major focus on sickle cell disease. The main scientific aim of her research program is to explore the therapeutic benefit of the administration of heme scavengers, iron chelators and modulators of iron metabolism in iron overload conditions, with the major goal to ameliorate anemias, improve transfusion practice and minimize the risk of developing iron-related toxicities.
Dr. Vinchi is an author of several high impact publications (Am. J. Pathol. 2008; Circulation 2013; Gastroenterology 2014; Blood 2016; Eur Heart J 2019; BJH 2021; Blood 2023; Blood 2024); she is an active member of the European and American Societies of Hematology (EHA, ASH), BioIron Society, AABB, and currently serves as Chair of the ASH Scientific Committee on Heme and Iron, member of the BioIron Society Board of Directors, and of the EHA Specialised Working Group on Red Cells and Iron, Associate Editor of EHA official journal, Hemasphere, and Frontiers in Oncology. Dr. Vinchi was awarded the Gunshin Levy Prize by the International BioIron Society in 2015, for her dedication, commitment and contribution to the field area of iron homeostasis as a young researcher, the Tito Bastianello Young Investigator Award by the International MDS Foundation, as well as several Young Investigator Awards and Fellowships