2013 Wylie Scholar
Thomas Monahan, MD
1975-2019
Former Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Maryland
The Wylie grant was awarded to support the late Dr. Monahan’s research identifying the mechanisms responsible for vein graft, angioplasty and stent failure. Dr. Monahan studied the body’s abnormal healing reaction to surgery, known as intimal hyperplasia or restenosis.
As a vascular surgeon, Dr. Monahan performed both bypass surgery and angioplasty (inflation of a balloon within a diseased segment of artery) to relieve arterial blockages. Over seven million cardiovascular bypass operations and angioplasty procedures are performed in the US each year. Bypass grafting, endarterectomy, and angioplasty remain plagued by restenosis, or recurrent narrowing of the affected vessel, which affects up to 30 ‐ 40% of procedures within 6 months. Restenosis represents a large clinical problem.
Dr. Monahan's work focused on methods of specifically inhibiting vascular smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation. Present treatments for the prevention of intimal hyperplasia are limited because they inhibit both smooth muscle and endothelial cell migration and proliferation. Dr. Monahan had identified a protein, MARCKS, that when knocked down, inhibits smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation with no effect on endothelial cells. This protein is potentially a powerful target for the prevention of intimal hyperplasia.
“Dr. Monahan had a personal commitment to providing much needed surgical care for the most vulnerable in our society: the poor, uninsured, veterans and persons with no advocates...His patients and colleagues remember him as a tireless advocate for the chronically ill and disadvantaged, as well as a dedicated teacher and scientist.”
-Raj Sarkar, 2005 Wylie Scholar and mentor to Dr. Monahan