Principal Investigator:
Fadi G. Akar, PhD, FHRS: Dr. Akar completed his PhD training in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and his post-doctoral training in molecular cardiology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Akar was subsequently promoted to assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University from 2004 to 2007. Dr. Akar joined the Cardiovascular Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2007, where he established the Cardiac Bioelectricity Research Laboratory. The Akar lab is dedicated to uncovering the mechanisms that promote arrhythmias in common structural heart diseases and to develop novel gene-based approaches to prevent these malignant arrhythmias.
Current Lab Members:
Marine Cacheux, PhD: Dr. Cacheux was awarded her doctoral degree in October 2012 from the 
Neurosciences Institute of Grenoble, France. After 2 years of postdoctoral training in the Department of Physiology at Columbia University in New York, she joined the Cardiology department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Cacheux’s long-term scientific interest is to uncover the function of various proteins involved in intracellular calcium cycling in the cardiomyocyte. Her current focus is on the role of Stromal Interaction Molecule 1 (STIM1) in the development of heart failure (HF) and sudden cardiac death (SCD).
Nour Raad, MD, PhD: After earning her BS in physics from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2005 and her MD in 2009, Nour won a scholarship from the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for the PhD program at the Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB) in Germany. She concluded her PhD in 2014. She joined an interdisciplinary clinical and basic research program between the Department of Cardiology at the Georg-August University Medical Center and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen for three years before joining the Cardiology Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Benjamin Strauss, PhD: Benjamin graduated from The Cooper Union with a degree in engineering in 2012. He subsequently enrolled in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s PhD program. His interests are in modulating electrical function of di
seased hearts with gene therapies, and is focusing on strategies to prevent fatal cardiac arrhythmias in the presence of heart failure by reversing fibrosis. He is particularly interested in developing novel Relaxin gene therapies for heart failure related arrhythmias, He is also actively investigating novel gene based therapies for right ventricular failure secondary to pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Alejandro Chavez, MS: Alejandro completed his Bachelor of Science in Biology with a background in Bioinformatics and Business Administration from Fordham University in New York City. Currently, he is completing his graduate studies at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He focuses his investigations on mitochondrial dynamics as a therapeutic target for several cardiac disorders such as ischemia-reperfusion injury, heart failure, and diabetes.
Zeki Ilkan, PhD: Zeki graduated from Imperial College London with a BSc in Biochemistry in 2011, followed by an MRes in Biomedical Research in 2013, with distinction. He was awarded a 3.5 year Med
ical Research Council (MRC) Doctoral Training Award to pursue a PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. After completing his PhD in 2017, he joined the Cardiology Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as a postdoctoral fellow to investigate novel cardiac-specific gene therapy approaches targeting mitochondrial proteins in various mouse and rat models of metabolic disease to prevent post-ischemic arrhythmias.
Laboratory Alumni
Lukas J. Motloch, MD, PhD: Lukas’ research focused on defining the electrophysiological consequences of gene therapies targeting calcium cycling in clinically-relevant pig models of chronic heart failure. Dr. Motloch is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria. 
Alexander Lyon, MD,PhD: Senior Lecturer in Cardiology, Imperial College in London.
Jun Hu, PhD: Principal Research Scientist at Graphen in New York.
Chaoqin Xie, MD: Actuarial Analyst at AmTrust Financial in New York.
Nora Biary, MD: Instructor of Medicine, Pediatric Critical Care Special Services at the University of Michigan.
R. Daniel Nass, MD: Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of Bonn.
Wonjoon Koh, MS: Second year Medical School.
Paul Joudrey, MD, MPH: Postdoctoral Fellow, National Clinicians Scholars Program of Yale University in New haven.
Christopher Ovanez, MD, MPH: Resident, Diagnostic Radiology, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
Basil Karam, BS: Fourth year Medical Student, American University of Beirut.
