Sakthivel Sadayappan Named Chair-Elect of AHA Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council

Sakthivel Sadayappan, PhD, MBA, FAHA, has been named chair-elect of the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (BCVS) for the 2026–2028 term. In this role, he will work alongside chair Sean Wu, MD, PhD, of Stanford University, and immediate past chair Maria Kontaridis, PhD, of the Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI), to advance the council’s activities worldwide.

The BCVS Council is one of the AHA’s largest scientific councils, with 5,387 members as of July 14, 2026. Its overarching mission is to promote basic science research and education in cardiovascular medicine — a mission closely aligned with Dr. Sadayappan’s own research and leadership.

Dr. Sadayappan is professor and chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, and an associate director of the Sarver Heart Center. He also holds the Czarina M. & Humberto S. Lopez Endowed Chair for Excellence in Cardiovascular Research. His research is driven by a commitment to improving cardiac health, with the long-term goal of treating and preventing genetically induced heart failure, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, and dilated cardiomyopathy. He and his trainees have received numerous AHA grants supporting their research, education, and training.

A Long History of AHA Service

Dr. Sadayappan’s connection to the AHA dates back more than two decades. He attended his first AHA meeting in Chicago in 2002 as a postdoctoral fellow working with the late Jeff Robbins, PhD at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and in 2005 he received a travel award to present his work at the BCVS meeting in Keystone, Colorado. He was awarded an AHA Postdoctoral Training Grant (2004–2006) and a Scientist Development Grant (2007–2010), the latter supporting his transition to an independent faculty position at Loyola University Chicago in 2009. In 2012 he became a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA), and he was recognized as a “Research Champion” by the AHA Chicago Chapter in 2012 and 2013 for his outstanding volunteerism.

His leadership within the BCVS Council has been extensive. He founded and organized a one-day AHA Network Symposium and served as Vice Chair (2014–2016) and Chair (2016–2018) of the council’s Early Career Committee, as a member of the BCVS Leadership Committee (2016–2018), as Editorial Liaison to Circulation Research for BCVS (2018–2019), and as Chair of the BCVS International Taskforce (2024–2026). He co-chaired the BCVS Scientific Sessions in 2019 and 2020 alongside Jil C. Tardiff, MD, PhD, and Loren E. Wold, PhD. He completed training through the AHA Research Leaders Academy in 2016 (San Antonio) and 2017 (Denver) and Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee (SACC) leadership training in 2023 (Dallas), and he currently serves on the Science and Clinical Education Lifelong Learning Committee Leadership Committee (2024–2028).

Dr. Sadayappan serves as a peer reviewer for AHA journals, including Circulation and Circulation Research, and has reviewed grant applications as an AHA study section member. He was named an Outstanding Reviewer of Circulation Research in 2020 and 2021 and currently sits on the journal’s editorial board. He remains active in the AHA’s Scientific Sessions, organizing, moderating, and presenting, and supports the association’s mission and local activities through events such as the Heart Mini-Marathon and Heart Ball. He also served on the Cincinnati AHA board as a Cor Vitae Ambassador (2022–2024).