Dr. Shirya Rashid, Assistant Professor, Ph.D.

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Resume: S._Rashid_CV_2009.doc

Publications: S._Rashid_Publications.doc

Dr. Rashid is an Assistant Professor at McMaster University in the Department of Medicine in the Divisions of Hematology (primary), Thrombosis, and Cardiology. She received her M.Sc. in the Department of Physiology under the supervision of Dr. Mladen Vranic at the University of Toronto. She received her Ph.D. in the Department of Medical Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Gary Lewis at the University of Toronto in 2003. Dr. Rashid then spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Joseph Goldstein (Nobel Laureates) supervised under Dr. Jay Horton in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center (UTSWMC). She is attributed to knocking out at UTSWMC the novel PCSK9 gene, which is only the third gene discovered in three decades which regulates circulating levels of LDL-cholesterol, which directly impacts on the incidence of cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke). PCSK9 is already a therapeutic target for drug development in humans. Dr. Rashid then spent two years in the laboratory of Dr. Jacques Genest at the Cardiovascular Research Program at McGill University.
Throughout her training, Dr. Rashid received personal support and grant awards from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She has published over 19 papers in peer reviewed journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, JAMA, Circulation and Diabetes.
Dr. Rashid’s integrative research approach includes studies at the levels of cell biology, molecular biology, protein biochemistry, genetically-altered mouse models, and clinical research studies.
Dr. Rashid’s overall research interest is to study the mechanistic links between dyslipidemias and cardiovascular disease, particularly those dyslipidemias associated with (a) the pathophysiology of obesity and (b) the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. Her current research focuses on two key areas: (1) the mechanisms contributing to low plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good cholesterol”) and elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the “bad cholesterol”), two major cardiovascular risk factors, in obesity, and (2) the specific mechanistic roles of prohormone convertases, including PCSK9, in atherosclerosis. These research programs should lead to the identification of novel biomarkers of cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis, and to the development of novel therapies aimed at normalizing lipoprotein levels and inhibiting atherosclerosis.