Vascular Biology Center

Director: Robert P. Hebbel, MD | Bio Medical Library

Vascular diseases are major health problems and encompass the leading causes of death and disability. This category of clinical disease includes:

• states of cardiovascular risk such as hyper-cholesterolemia, hypertension, and diabetes;
• the systemic features of atherosclerosis, such as coronary and peripheral artery disease, and cerebrovascular disease and stroke;
• conditions for which angiogenesis plays a role, such as wound healing and cancer, and retinal disease in diabetes, atherosclerosis and sickle disease;
• disorders of endothelial dysfunction and vascular dysregulation, as occurs in shock, sepsis, Raynaud’s disease, and migraine;
• primary and secondary pulmonary hypertension;
• the sickling disorders;
• thrombophilia and thrombotic complications such as stroke, arterial or venous thrombosis, fetal wastage, and pulmonary embolism;
• abnormal bleeding due to inherited or acquired states such as hemophilia and disseminated intravascular coagulation;
• inflammatory diseases that involve participation of blood and vessel wall