Jeffrey Bender, MD, is a Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) and of Immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is the Senior Vice Chief for Academic Development of the Cardiovascular Medicine Division. He is the former Director of the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center. He holds the Robert I. Levy Endowed Chair of Preventive Cardiology at Yale. Dr. Bender has devoted his career to the study of the effects of immunity and inflammation on vascular physiology and pathology. He was one of a very few academic cardiologists who studied the regulation and effect of leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium, during the establishment of this field. Out of these inflammation studies also grew an interest in the effects of ovarian steroid hormones on the endothelium. Dr. Bender has described the mechanisms by which estrogen induces endothelial nitric oxide release, and has defined novel features of vascular estrogen receptors. He is a recognized expert and authority on both leukocyte integrin-mediated pro-inflammatory gene expression, and estrogen effects on the vasculature.
As recognition of this work, he was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Association of American Physicians (AAP), and the Association of University Cardiologists, which he served as President in 2014. In addition to his molecular and translational science efforts, Dr. Bender is an active clinical cardiologist, having been a cardiac catheterization attending for 14 years, a CCU attending and a cardiology consultant at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is a dedicated mentor, regularly supervising a cardiology fellows teaching clinic, and is the Director of Yale’s Postdoctoral Vascular Research Training NHLBI T32. He has been an active member of the American Heart Association, including chairing the Heritage Affiliate Research Committee, serving on the National Research Committee, and chairing the Portfolio Task Force that guided the initiation of several major new association grant programs.