The PAH research group has an established reputation which has made it possible to build a network of collaborators, bringing together the best national and international researchers in pulmonary vascular disease. This international recognition enables members of the PAH research group to occupy leading decision-making positions in major international scientific associations such as the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the World Symposia on Pulmonary Hypertension (WSPH) association, the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute (PVRI), the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Rajkumar Savai
PhD,
🇩🇪
Soni Savai Pullamsetti
PhD
🇩🇪
Evangelos Michelakis
MD, PhD
🇨🇦
Marc Humbert
MD, PhD
🇫🇷
Other collaborators
- Stephen L. Archer (Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario 🇨🇦)
- Harm Jan Bogaard (Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱)
- Stephen Y. Chan (University of Pittsburgh, US 🇺🇸)
- Vinicio de Jesus Perez (Stanford University, US 🇺🇸)
- Marie-Josée Goumans (University of Leiden, Netherlands 🇳🇱)
- John Granton (Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario 🇨🇦)
- Tim Lahm (University of Colorado, Denver, US 🇺🇸)
- David Langleben (McGill University, Montréal, Québec 🇨🇦)
- Sanjay Mehta (Lawson Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario 🇨🇦)
- Lisa Mielniczuk (University of Ottawa, Ontario 🇨🇦)
- Nick Morrell (University of Cambridge, UK 🇬🇧)
- Ralph T Schermuly (University of Giessen, Bad Nauheim, Germany 🇩🇪)
- Kurt Stenmark (University of Colorado, Denver, US 🇺🇸)
- Mark Toshner (University of Cambridge, UK 🇬🇧)
- Jason Weatherald MD (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta 🇨🇦)
- Junichi Omura (Janssen, Japan 🇯🇵)
- Tsukasa Shimauchi (St. Mary’s Hospital, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan 🇯🇵)
The success of our group depends on the work of a team
of dedicated principal investigators, research coordinators and students.
Every day, each of them contributes to our success.
Sébastien Bonnet, PhD
Marc Humbert, MD, PhD
Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Physiopathology and Therapeutic Innovation Laboratory, INSERM U999, Université Paris-Saclay, France
Dean of the Paris-Saclay Faculty of Medicine
Head of the Pneumology and Intensive Respiratory Care department at the AP-HP Bicêtre hospital, Paris
Former President of the European Respiratory Society
President of the European Respiratory Society, Marc Humbert is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Vice Dean for Research and Director of the Inserm Unit 999 at Université Paris-Saclay, France. He is the Director of the Department of Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine, Pulmonary Hypertension Reference Centre Hôpital Bicêtre, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, France. Marc Humbert was the Chief Editor of the European Respiratory Journal from 2013 to 2017 and he is currently Section Editor for Pulmonary Vascular Medicine. He has received many distinctions. Since 2017, Marc Humbert is the vice-coordinator of the European Reference Network for rare and low prevalence respiratory diseases (ERN-LUNG). In 2018, Clarivate Analytics has listed Pr Marc Humbert as one of the world’s highly cited researchers in the field of Clinical Medicine.
Evangelos Michelakis MD, PhD
Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Program
Canada Research Chair in Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine
Vice Chair – Research, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Director, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Cardiovascular Research Institute
Evangelos Michelakis was born in Greece, where he attended medical school at the University of Patras. He completed training in vascular biology, internal medicine, and cardiology at the University of Texas (Galveston), Yale University, and the University of Minnesota. He joined the faculty at the University of Alberta in 1998 and has since achieved the rank of professor. He is currently the Vice Chair (Research) in the Department of Medicine.
Soni Savai Pullamsetti, PhD
Professor, Internal medicine, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
Principle investigator at the Max Plank Institute for Heart & Lung Research in the Department of Lung Development and Remodeling
Prof. Dr. Soni Savai Pullamsetti is a principal investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, Germany, and a professor at Justus Liebig University Giessen. With academic roots in India, she completed her PhD and postdoctoral studies in Germany before assuming her current research leadership role in 2011. She is actively involved in major research networks such as ECCPS II, ATS, DZL, and UGMLC, and serves on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports and PVRI.
Her research focuses on uncovering the molecular mechanisms behind Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) and Pulmonary Fibrosis, aiming to develop innovative therapies. In PH, her team studies signaling pathways (e.g., tyrosine kinases, phosphodiesterases), transcription factors (FoxO, Beta-catenin, HIF), and epigenetic factors (HDACs, Jumonji proteins), addressing vascular remodeling and right heart dysfunction. In Pulmonary Fibrosis, she investigates similar molecular targets to understand tissue remodeling and scar formation, particularly in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).
Her work bridges basic research and clinical application, contributing significantly to the development of targeted treatments for chronic lung diseases.
Rajkumar Savai, PhD
Professor, Internal medicine, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
Principle investigator at the Max Plank Institute for Heart & Lung Research in the Department of Lung Development and Remodeling
Head of the Oncology Basic Research Unit at Medical Clinic V of the University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg in Giessen
Prof. Dr. Rajkumar Savai is a professor at the Institute for Lung Health (ILH) at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, where he leads the research group on the “Lung Microenvironmental Niche in Cancerogenesis.” He also heads the Oncology Basic Research Unit at the University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg and serves as a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim.
Originally from Warangal, India, Dr. Savai earned his MSc in Biochemistry before moving to Germany for his PhD and postdoctoral research. Since 2010, he has led independent research and, in 2020, was appointed to a professorship supported by the prestigious Heisenberg Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
He plays key roles in several national and international research initiatives, including the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the Network Genomic Medicine (nNGM) Lung Cancer, the LOEWE iCANx consortium, and is a faculty member at both the Cardio-Pulmonary Institute (CPI) and Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI). He has also served as a visiting professor in the U.S.
Prof. Savai has received numerous awards for his work and has published over 85 articles in high-impact journals such as Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, Science Advances, and Cancer Research. His research focuses on the interaction between tumors and the lung microenvironment in cancer development and progression.