Faisal Cheema

A prolific physician-scientist who specializes in basic sciences, translational and clinical research, Dr. Cheema is currently the Director of Research at HCA Research Institute in its Gulf Coast Division. In this role, he provides leadership to clinical research in a consortium of 16 hospitals within Texas. Dr. Cheema also holds faculty appointment as Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences at University of Houston College of Medicine. Prior to this, Dr. Cheema was Director of Research and Innovations and Asst. Professor in the Division of Cardiothoracic Transplantation of Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine where under his leadership a strong program in research was built. He has lead Aegis Cardiovascular Research Foundation. He was appointed as Director of Clinical Research and Innovations & Assistant Professor of Cardiac Surgery at University of Maryland where he oversaw recruitment in ~3 dozen clinical trials. Dr. Cheema earned his M.B.;B.S. from The Aga Khan University followed by a clinical research fellowship in heart transplantation from the Robert Van Kampen Heart Transplant Resource Center at Loyola University. Later, he moved to Columbia University to finish his post-doctoral research fellowships and stayed on as research faculty (Associate Research Scientist) as well as the Director of Cardiopulmonary Tissue Repository. Dr. Cheema was elected as University Senator from 2009-11 and served on several important senate committees during his tenure representing the researchers of Columbia University. Dr. Cheema is a co-author on 125 scientific manuscripts and over 225 abstracts. He has presented his research at conferences worldwide. Additionally, he has written several book chapters and secured various grants both from private and federal funding agencies. His papers have appeared in high impact journals such as The Lancet, PNAS, JCI, Circulation, BMJ, World Journal of Surgery, JTCVS, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, EJCTS,JHLT, Circulation Heart Failure, and Circulation Research. He serves as a reviewer on several scholarly journals. Dr. Cheema is also working towards his MPH from UC Berkeley. A proven clinical researcher and academician with 5000+ citations to his published scientific work and a phenomenal h-index of 35, Dr. Cheema is also a member of numerous professional organizations and is very active in academic, philanthropic and community organizations. Specialties: Research Cardiovascular Sciences Public Health