Principal Investigator
Martin H. Dominguez, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Attending Non-invasive Cardiologist
Background
Dr. Martin Hoeller Dominguez is a cardiologist-scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Drexel University whose work bridges developmental biology, cardiovascular pathophysiology, and advanced imaging. A graduate of the Yale M.D./Ph.D. program, he completed his doctoral studies in neurobiology under Dr. Pasko Rakic, where he identified transcriptional programs governing cortical neuron subtype specification. This early work on gene-regulated cell fate decisions laid the conceptual foundation for his later studies of cellular plasticity in the heart. Following internal medicine residency at Columbia and cardiology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Dominguez pursued postdoctoral research at Gladstone Institutes with Dr. Benoit Bruneau, developing 4D light-sheet microscopy and computational reconstruction methods to map cardiac progenitor behaviors during morphogenesis. He later joined Dr. Mark Kahn’s laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, where he uncovered connections between Klf2/4 transcription factors in cardiac fibroblasts and mechanical load, providing new insight into ventricular remodeling. Dr. Dominguez’s current research, supported by NIH and foundation awards integrates genomics, biomechanics, and imaging to uncover how mechanical cues shape cardiac adaptation and disease. As a board-certified non-invasive cardiologist with interests in ultrasound and nuclear imaging, he remains closely connected to patient care. His long-term goal is to translate mechanobiologic principles into therapeutic strategies for heart failure and myocardial repair, uniting basic discovery with clinical cardiology to improve outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease.