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Konstantinos Drosatos, MSc, PhD, FAHA
Ohio Eminent Scholar & Professor in Pharmacology & Systems Physiology Metabolic Biology Laboratory Cardiovascular Center University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, USA |
Konstantinos Drosatos received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. His graduate training in the lab of Vassilis Zannis at the University of Crete, Greece and Boston University, USA focused on the transcriptional regulation of ApoE and the role of ApoE in lipoprotein clearance. In these studies, he demonstrated the importance of the stress activated JNK signaling pathway in the regulation of apoE transcription and created a modified ApoE protein molecule that treats hyperlipidemia. In addition, he discovered that miR370 targets directly hepatic carnitine palmitoyl transferase, an enzyme that regulates fatty acid import in mitochondria.
For his postdoctoral training he joined the lab of Ira Goldberg at Columbia University. He studied the effects of abnormal lipid metabolism in cardiac function. He discovered that lipid accumulation impairs β-adrenergic receptor signaling prior to heart failure development via a PKC-dependent mechanism. Driven by his interest in cardiac stress signaling, he initiated a project that demonstrated the importance of cardiac fatty acid oxidation for the treatment of cardiac dysfunction in sepsis.
In 2014, he joined the Department of Pharmacology and the Center for Translational Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. In 2020 he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. In January 2022, he was recruited as the Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor in Pharmacology & Systems Physiology of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His lab’s research program focuses on signaling mechanisms that link cardiac stress in diabetes, sepsis and ischemia with altered myocardial fatty acid metabolism.
He is an elected Fellow of the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council of the American Heart Association, the recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award of the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council, a Visiting Professor of the Center for Systems Biomedicine at the UCLA, and external faculty of the University of Crete Medical School (Greece). In 2017, he received the Early Research Investigator Award at the 5th Translational Science Symposium at Temple University.
Konstantinos Drosatos has founded and served as the president of the executive board of two scientific networks of Greek biomedical scientists and physicians that live abroad: The Hellenic Bioscientific Association in the USA and the World Hellenic Biomedical Association. During his tenure as the president of these societies he organized national meetings and an annual international summer school for medical and biosciences students. For his contribution in the organization of the summer school in the region of Eastern Mani he was nominated Honorary Citizen of Eastern Mani. Currently, he serves as a member of the Mid-Career Committee of the International Society for Heart Research and the Membership and Communications Committee of Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council of the American Heart Association. In 2021, he was elected President of the Mid-Career Investigators of the North American Section of the International Society for Heart Research, which he resigned following his appointment as Professor. He has served as the co-chair of the organizing committee of 3 international conferences that were held in the USA, Japan and Greece.
In 2019, Konstantinos Drosatos was the co-founder of the ARISTEiA-Institute for the Advancement of Research & Education in Arts, Sciences &Technology. Since 2024, he serves as the President of the Executive Council of the Institute.
For his postdoctoral training he joined the lab of Ira Goldberg at Columbia University. He studied the effects of abnormal lipid metabolism in cardiac function. He discovered that lipid accumulation impairs β-adrenergic receptor signaling prior to heart failure development via a PKC-dependent mechanism. Driven by his interest in cardiac stress signaling, he initiated a project that demonstrated the importance of cardiac fatty acid oxidation for the treatment of cardiac dysfunction in sepsis.
In 2014, he joined the Department of Pharmacology and the Center for Translational Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. In 2020 he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. In January 2022, he was recruited as the Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor in Pharmacology & Systems Physiology of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His lab’s research program focuses on signaling mechanisms that link cardiac stress in diabetes, sepsis and ischemia with altered myocardial fatty acid metabolism.
He is an elected Fellow of the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council of the American Heart Association, the recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award of the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council, a Visiting Professor of the Center for Systems Biomedicine at the UCLA, and external faculty of the University of Crete Medical School (Greece). In 2017, he received the Early Research Investigator Award at the 5th Translational Science Symposium at Temple University.
Konstantinos Drosatos has founded and served as the president of the executive board of two scientific networks of Greek biomedical scientists and physicians that live abroad: The Hellenic Bioscientific Association in the USA and the World Hellenic Biomedical Association. During his tenure as the president of these societies he organized national meetings and an annual international summer school for medical and biosciences students. For his contribution in the organization of the summer school in the region of Eastern Mani he was nominated Honorary Citizen of Eastern Mani. Currently, he serves as a member of the Mid-Career Committee of the International Society for Heart Research and the Membership and Communications Committee of Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council of the American Heart Association. In 2021, he was elected President of the Mid-Career Investigators of the North American Section of the International Society for Heart Research, which he resigned following his appointment as Professor. He has served as the co-chair of the organizing committee of 3 international conferences that were held in the USA, Japan and Greece.
In 2019, Konstantinos Drosatos was the co-founder of the ARISTEiA-Institute for the Advancement of Research & Education in Arts, Sciences &Technology. Since 2024, he serves as the President of the Executive Council of the Institute.
