The SAHR Awards Committee

Dr. Sakthivel Sadayappan serves as the Professor and Department Head of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona. He also serves as the Associate Director, Sarver Heart Center and Czarina M. & Humberto S. Lopez Endowed Chair. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University, India followed by post-doctoral training at Max-Planck Institute, Germany and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Ohio. Subsequently, he became a faculty in Loyola University Chicago and then in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His research focuses on improving cardiac health including those of South Asians, aiming to treat and prevent genetically induced heart failure such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, and dilated cardiomyopathy. In recent years, he has expanded his studies to include skeletal muscle genetic diseases such as distal arthrogryposis and Lethal Congenital Contracture Syndrome. His lab employs various models and techniques, including iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and organoids, genetically engineered mouse models, gene editing therapies, etc. with research supported by NIH and AHA grants. He also actively collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments for heart failure. Dr. Sadayappan has published numerous peer-reviewed publications, serves in prestigious grant study sections, and has a long history of serving in various leadership roles in the American Heart Association, American Physiological Society, International Society for Heart Research, Cardiac Muscle Society, etc. He was a Past-President of the Society for South Asian Heart Research.