2001 Wylie Scholar
Edith Tzeng, MD, FACS
Chief of Vascular Surgery, VAPHCS
UPMC Chair and Professor of Surgery
Program Director, Vascular Surgery T32 Training Program, Division of Vascular Surgery, University of Pittsburgh
UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute
“My greatest achievement since being awarded the Wylie Scholarship is maintaining national funding in these very difficult times. In the 20 years since the award, I have had a total of $17 million of funding between the American Heart Association, VA Merit Award, and the National Institutes of Health. My other achievement that I am very proud of is my mentorship role for three of my junior partners who have also been Wylie Scholars, helping them achieve the next level in their research careers.”
Dr. Tzeng is focused on translational studies of vascular healing and wound healing, and is developing treatments to treat abnormal cell growth following angioplasty. Her research involves studying the effect of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide in preventing inflammation and injury after angioplasty procedures. Dr. Tzeng is studying ways to reduce inflammation, and has shown significant positive outcomes in the healing process in animals. The ultimate goal of her research is to bring these agents to clinical application.
Since receiving the Wylie Scholar award, Dr. Tzeng has established a vascular laboratory that has mentored dozens of researchers including 2008 Wylie Scholar Ulka Sachdev MD, 2010 Wylie Scholar Bryan Tillman MD and 2016 Scholar Ryan McEnaney MD. Dr. Tzeng, Dr. Sachdev and their team at the University of Pittsburgh discovered a novel method of how nuclear proteins may grow new blood vessels to restore blood flow.
Dr. Tzeng has been the Program Director of the VascTrain NIH T32 program at the University of Pittsburgh since 2010. Dr. Tzeng is on the Advisory Board of Vascular Cures. In 2018 she was named Chair of the American College of Surgeons Scientific Forum Committee and Chair of the Research Council for the Society for Vascular Surgery. She is also Treasurer for the Association for VA Surgeons. She has been a standing member of the NHLBI National Institute of Training Mechanisms study section since 2018 and a member of the AHA Strategically Focused Research Network Oversight Advisory Committee.
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