Biography

Prior to coming to URI College of Pharmacy, Dr. Clements was an Assistant Professor at Rhode Island Hospital/Providence VAMC and Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where his research program focused on myocardial and vascular pathophysiology of ischemic injury. He received his PhD in Cardiovascular Science and Physiology from the Albany Medical College which focused on endothelial cell biology of inflammatory insults associated with blood vessel function. He then performed a post-doctoral fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School focused on cardiac function and acute stress signaling during ischemic injury.

Research in Dr. Clements laboratory is both basic and translational and is focused on cardiac and vascular contraction and mitochondrial structure/function. Major interests of the laboratory include 1) improved cardioprotection strategies and therapeutics related to cardiac surgery and ischemic injury, 2) cardioprotective mechanisms of mitochondrial potassium channels focused on reactive oxygen species generation and cellular respiration, and 3) improving cardiac and skeletal muscle function in settings of heart failure and chronic disease such as diabetes. Additional areas of research include investigating the neuroprotective role of mitochondrial potassium channels in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. A combination of cell, molecular, and small and large animal physiologic studies are used regularly in the laboratory.